


The stranger in my house

by ReeseValentin



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Accidental Force Bond (Star Wars), Accidental Use of the Force (Star Wars), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anakin Skywalker Doesn't Turn to the Dark Side, Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, Anakin Skywalker is Trying, Author Is Not Religious, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Visions (Star Wars), Idiots in Love, Inappropriate Use of the Force, M/M, Mechanic Anakin Skywalker, Needy Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi Gets a Hug, Obi-Wan Kenobi Is Bad At Feelings, Obi-Wan Kenobi is Trying, POV Anakin Skywalker, POV Obi-Wan Kenobi, Past Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze, Past Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Past Qui-Gon Jinn/Obi-Wan Kenobi, References to the Jedi Council (Star Wars), Religious Content, Set on Planet Earth, Shmi Skywalker Dies, Slow Burn, That's Not How The Force Works (Star Wars), no beta we die like men, obikin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:34:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29095839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReeseValentin/pseuds/ReeseValentin
Summary: Planet Earth is centuries behind in technology compared to the rest of the galaxy, so force-sensitive beings are rare and usually go unnoticed. What happens when a religious man and a mechanic unexpectedly meet and start discovering the force together?
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker & Shmi Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Jedi Council, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Satine Kryze, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 40
Kudos: 31





	1. The Mechanic

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. I have previously posted this story on fanfiction.net, where I am up to chapter 7 right now. I will post a chapter here every couple of days until I catch up.  
> I hope this story is to your liking!  
> Love, RV.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan Kenobi is determined to get his old car fixed. He takes it to the shop, where he meets a handsome young mechanic who is suddenly in need of a place to live.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was a simple and humble man. His life was one big routine in which he got up early every day. After going on his morning run, he showered and dressed in modest clothes, which were often secondhand, and drove his beat-up car to his job at the church.

He had been working there since he was 21 years old, it was actually the only job he ever had after getting his administration degree from community college. He really liked working at the church, even if some details about it bothered him sometimes. His job basically consisted on handling donations and the finances in general, booking the church for events and even teaching Sunday school sometimes, if all the priests were occupied. It wasn't really a job requiring much skill or expertise. He didn't wholeheartedly _agree_ with some of the things he saw on a daily basis, but he didn't complain. His salary wasn't huge, but since he lived modestly, it was enough to afford a roof, clothes and even put some money into a savings account after receiving each paycheck.

So, naturally, when Obi-Wan's old car started making a weird noise out of the blue, he decided to get it checked instead of giving up on it. He had enough money saved to buy a new car if he wanted, or he could have gotten a lease for one, since he had very good credit, but he disliked the idea of spending so much on something he didn't really need. He was determined to keep this car until it was rendered completely useless. As soon as he got to work that day, Obi-Wan grabbed the phone book and called a nearby car shop to make an appointment. The man who answered the phone gave him a bad feeling, so he hung up his office phone and started looking for another option.

Obi-Wan couldn't really explain it, but sometimes he had feelings or hunches about people. He liked to entertain the idea that he had some kind of guardian angel or something, but rationally he knew that he was probably just picking up on people's body language or their tone of voice. Obi-Wan didn't have many friends, but he was on friendly terms with some of the people who regularly attended church and volunteered for charity events. Whenever he engaged in conversation with someone, he liked telling the story of that time when he left the supermarket because he had a bad feeling, only to find out that half an hour later, a man he had crossed paths with had taken the customers hostage and robbed the store. Some of the priests believed that he could perform miracles, but they seldom brough it up, because Obi-Wan was shy, and the idea of being a miracle worker made him feel uncomfortable.

After looking at the yellow pages for a few more minutes, he found another car shop. The person who answered the phone assured him he could drop off his car early the next morning. Since his car was an older model, computer diagnostics were out of the question, so his car would probably have to stay a few days while they disassembled some things to figure out what was wrong with it. He didn't really mind being without a car for a couple days, since the church was just a 30-minute walk, and he could take a cab if he needed to run an errand or something else came up.

He woke up the next day earlier than usual, ready to drop his car off. He didn't have to be at the church at a certain hour, but he liked to do most of his work in the early morning. That way, his afternoons were free to meet with people who wanted to book the church for an event, which were almost always couples who wanted to get married or couples who wanted their child baptized. He drove over to the shop in silence, following directions on Google Maps and swiftly avoiding a stray cat crossing the street. When he arrived at the address, the metal curtains where closed, so he figured he could wait a few minutes. He stayed in the car and took a look at the place, which appeared to be an oversized garage. The front sign was old, up to the point where the name, _Watto's_ , was barely legible.

After waiting for about ten minutes, he heard the engine of a motorcycle coming his way. The motorcycle driver parked in front of the metal doors and climbed down, his face covered by his helmet. He searched his pockets for keys and unlocked multiple padlocks before lifting up the curtains and gesturing for Obi-Wan to park inside, as he did the same with his motorcycle. As Obi-Wan was killing the engine, he saw the man remove his helmet to reveal neck-length brown hair that curled at the ends and a handsome face. He was tall and lean, almost too perfect, like one of those models on pictures at the clothing store. The only thing shattering that illusion of perfection was a big scar just beside his right eye. He looked young, about 21 maybe, but Obi-Wan had never been good at guessing people's age. He didn't know why, but he had a good feeling about this man. He seemed incredibly _bright_ , somehow. By now he knew too well that it was better to always listen to his feelings.

He climbed down from his car and followed the young man, who was unlocking a room in the back, probably an office.

"Hey there." He greeted Obi-Wan as he held the door open for him. Obi-Wan thanked him with a polite nod as he entered the office. "You must be the person who called yesterday. I was a bit surprised, we don't often get older models."

"Yes, nice to meet you." Obi-Wan extended his hand for the other man to shake. He was used to dealing with people at work, so human interaction came naturaly to him then. He was just not the best when it came to interacting with other human beings on a personal level, so he was not surprised when he realized that he forgot to introduce himself. He sat on one of the available chairs, while the young man sat across the desk and pushed a button on the computer to turn it on. There was a name plate on the desk that read _A. Skywalker,_ which was probably the name of the young man. "I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi." He finally introduced himself, probably a few seconds too late.

"That's... an uncommon name." Replied the young man, frowning slightly.

"I know, It's the name of a character from a sci-fi movie." It was one of the only things that Obi-Wan knew about his past. He had been dropped off at a church as a baby, or at least that was what he had been told by one of the nuns at his group home. He was left there with the clothes he was wearing, a name and nothing else.

"Cool. I'm Anakin Skywalker, but people just call me Ani." The other man introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you." Obi-Wan said automatically, without realizing that he had in fact already said that. Anakin didn't seem to mind, he just started asking him questions about the car and he said that he had a pretty good guess about what was wrong.

Unfortunately, he informed Obi-Wan that one of his employees had called in sick, so he estimated that fixing his car would take about a week, maybe even more if it turned out that he needed to order parts online. Obi-Wan assured him that it was okay, he didn't need his car urgently for anything in particular. They proceeded to fill out some paperwork and Anakin saved Obi-Wan's number to his contacts so that he could call him with any news. He even offered to give him a ride to work in his motorcycle. He knew Anakin was just trying to be nice to a customer, but just the thought of riding in the motorcycle with him was really embarrassing to Obi-Wan. He politely thanked him and walked a couple blocks to a big street so he could get a cab.

Obi-Wan's week went by uneventfully. Nothing too interesting or out of the ordinary happened at work, and like always, he stayed home on the weekend, watching TV and cooking for himself. He liked living alone, even if his apartment had two bedrooms. Sometimes he considered looking for a roommate just for the sake of putting the empty bedroom to good use. He didn't really need help with the rent, but he supposed some extra money couldn't hurt. It was not actually an urgent matter for him, so he never got around to putting up flyers or ads in the newspaper. Also, having a roommate would mean that someone would always be there to disturb his moments of silent contemplation and brooding. Needless to say, he was seldom enthusiastic about the idea.

* * *

Monday came and he walked to work once more, still waiting for any news about his car. On Wednesday, exactly one week after dropping it off, Anakin Skywalker called him and told him he could pick it up the next morning. He said something had been wrong with the gasoline pump but he had been able to fix it, and his car should be as good as new. Obi-Wan didn't know much about mechanics, but he was glad Anakin had been able to repair it. He thanked the young man and finished his day's work, walking back home when he was done. Obi-Wan wasn't a big fan of change, he quite liked his little routine, so he was happy to be getting his car back so that his daily routine could go back to normal.

He took a cab to Watto's the next morning and again waited for Anakin to arrive and open the shop. He waited for longer this time, and when Anakin pulled up in his motorcycle, he got a weird feeling about him. It wasn't exactly bad, it felt as if he was able to pick up on the other's man sadness, or maybe it was just a bad mood. When he removed his helmet, Obi-Wan saw that he now had dark circles and bags under his eyes, his hair was sticking up in odd places and most of his clothes were wrinkled, except for his leather jacket. He gave Obi-Wan a weak smile as he said hello and beckoned him to show him his car.

"So, as you can see, it no longer makes the noise when you step on the gas." Anakin explained as he drove Obi-Wan around the block, testing the car. "Sometimes, especially when the quality of gas is not the best, little things can get stuck in the gas pump, so gas doesn't go through and then you have trouble speeding up. It's bound to happen at some point with older cars, because they have been used for many years."

Obi-Wan listened patiently to Anakin's explanation. His own knowledge of cars only went as far as changing tires, so he listened to the expert and tried to learn something, in case this happened to him again. Overall, Obi-Wan was very satisfied with the service at Watto's, so he decided he would come back the next time he needed his car fixed. Anakin seemed really knowledgeable, and when he handed Obi-Wan the bill, he found the price reasonable.

"Can I pay with my card?" He asked Anakin, who gestured to his office with a sour expression.

"Sure, um, sorry about what you're about to see." He said quietly as he opened the office door for Obi-Wan, who almost gasped in surprise when he saw that Anakin's previously neat office was now a mess. There were boxes everywhere, the couch had been rudimentarily set up as a bed with pillows and a blanket, and there was a half-empty bottle of some kind of liquor on Anakin's desk.

"Do you _live_ here?" He asked in surprise.

"It's a complicated situation." He sighed, and Obi-Wan got the feeling that he was going to get the whole story even if he didn't ask. "When you called last week, a girl answered the phone, right?" Obi-Wan nodded, remembering the kind and confident voice that had assured him they could fix his car without even knowing what was wrong with it. "Well, she was kind of... my apprentice, you could say. I'd been teaching her for years, and she was also my roommate. Last week she quit with no explanation and she moved out, so now I had to move out because I couldn't afford rent, and I figured I might as well just sleep here, because I had to take on all of her work." Anakin pinched his nose, as if he was fighting a headache, and glancing over at the bottle of liquor, Obi-Wan momentarily wondered if he was hungover. "And worst of all, last night my phone stopped working, and I need it for work, so I had to use my savings to buy a new one. That's actually where I was when you arrived earlier. So, I'll give you my new number in case something happens with the car, the one you have is no longer working."

Obi-Wan couldn't help but feel a little bit of pity for the other man. Last week, he had been chatty and cheerful -a little cheeky, even-, now he seemed gloom, and his mood was starting to make Obi-Wan sad. He knew better than to meddle in other people's affairs, but he wanted to offer some kind of help, maybe buy him a hot meal or something.

But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that the decent thing to do would be to offer him his second bedroom. Anakin was by all means a complete stranger, but Obi-Wan didn't think that he was going to sack his apartment or pay his rent late. He seemed like a decent person, and Obi-Wan was almost never wrong about these things.

"Actually, I've been looking for a roommate." He stated, and Anakin's eyes lit up. "My apartment is not big or fancy, but the rent is cheap and that couch looks positively horrible to sleep in." Obi-Wan blushed deep red when Anakin got up and hugged him, thanking him a dozen times. "So, um, at what time do you get off work?" He asked as Anakin let go of him, and he was almost positive that his face was still red.

"Around six or seven." Anakin answered, and his tone was a hundred times more cheerful than it had been a couple minutes before.

"Okay, I can come by around seven and you follow me there. You will probably need help with the boxes anyway."

"See you at seven." Anakin hugged him once more, and when Obi-Wan reminded him that he had yet to pay for the gasoline pump repair, Anakin said it was on the house, and thanked him again for his kind offer.

Obi-Wan was a very calm person. He never acted on impulse, never did things that he could regret later, but he guessed there was always a first time for everything. He was sure no sane person would just trust a stranger like that, especially in the big city, but Obi-Wan liked dealing in good faith. He tried to convince himself that he was just being a good catholic, helping out someone in need. If he ever told anyone that he had invited a motorcycle-riding, scar-sporting stranger into his home because the man gave him an inexplicably warm feeling, they would probably laugh in his face, but Obi-Wan knew he had to trust his feelings.

After all, that was what he had always done, and so far, he hadn't been hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I will post the next chapter within the next couple of days.
> 
> EDIT TO ADD: Throughout this story (and another story for another fandom that I'm currently posting), there will be many easter eggs. Should I post them on the end notes of each chapter or should I just do a compilation at the end? Opinions are welcome!


	2. The Drunk Roommate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan and his new roommate slowly become friends, but they still know nothing about each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!  
> I'm adding the second chapter to this story. Thank you so much to those of you who have left kudos after reading the first chapter, I really appreciate it!  
> You can also find this story at [fanfiction.net](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13779284/1/The-Stranger-In-My-House/)

Obi-Wan had been hesitant about the whole roommate ordeal at first, but he had to admit that it hadn't been such a bad idea after all.

Later that day, after arriving at Watto's, Obi-Wan and Anakin had loaded up a couple of boxes into the former's car. Anakin had followed him home in his motorcycle and they unloaded the boxes together. Obi-Wan had always prided himself on being chivalrous and lending a hand to people whenever he could. Anakin seemed to be in a much better mood than in the morning, and even if his clothes were now dirty from working on cars all day, he somehow managed to look less disheveled and more put together. The thought of being the reason behind that drastic mood improvement made Obi-Wan's chest fill with pride.

Anakin made sure to thank him for his help multiple times and complimented Obi-Wan's interior décor. Obi-Wan was sure he was just being nice, because his apartment, albeit well furnished, was not at all decorated, and there was really no personal touch to it. He had adquired nice furniture over the years, not really having something else to spend his money on. It seemed like a good investment, because furniture could last for decades, if well preserved. Obi-Wan was nothing if not careful with his possessions.

Anakin had only brought over a few boxes, which contained some essential clothes, because his furniture was still in storage, so he wouldn't have been able to fully unpack anyway. They agreed that he would sleep on the couch for the next couple days until they could figure out a plan to transport Anakin's bed to the apartment.

"Well, look at me, I went from sleeping on a hard old couch to sleeping on a really nice couch." He remarked sarcastically while he and Obi-Wan had sat down to rest and watch some TV. Obi-Wan gave him an odd look. Anakin was _definitely_ being too hard on himself. "Don't get me wrong, I am _really_ grateful to you, Obi-Wan, and even if it's still a couch, at least I have a kitchen and…"

"Like I said, you don't have to thank me. You will be paying rent after all. And there's no way that I could, in good conscience, let you live in your office when I had an empty room." He answered, interrupting the younger man. "But don't you feel weird about living with a stranger, and an _old_ stranger, at that?" _Damn, Obi-Wan, calling yourself old just to make conversation? That must be why you don't have any friends!_ As soon as he heard himself say it, he wanted to slap himself. Why did he always have to act so awkward around other people? Anakin just _laughed_ , but it wasn't a rude laugh. It sounded sincere, as if he had actually found his question funny.

"Well, you're not exactly a stranger…" Anakin started off, avoiding Obi-Wan's questioning look. "I know that you have absolutely _zero_ social media or online presence, and somehow I couldn't picture myself mistrusting _"Local man runs 10 miles to raise money for church"_ and _"Church manager offers homeless people refugee during a snowstorm"_. I highly doubt you would steal my life savings and disappear on me." He said with a shrug, referencing the headlines of some local newspaper articles that talked about Obi-Wan. They had probably come up when he'd googled Obi-Wan's name.

Obi-Wan just laughed and changed the subject. He didn't really want to start his friendship with Anakin on the wrong foot by telling him he'd just had a hunch about him being an honest person. If Obi-Wan actually told him about his weird premonitions or how he could basically feel if a person was good or bad, Anakin might have thought he was crazy. He settled for making small talk about the TV show they had started watching. Like him, Anakin liked to binge on TV shows. They talked a little more, until it started getting late and they both decided it was time to go to sleep.

When Obi-Wan woke up the next morning, he found Anakin in the kitchen. He had already gotten ready for the day, and he was serving breakfast for the both of them. It was just fruit and scrambled eggs with toast, but it was actually not that different from what Obi-Wan usually had for breakfast.

"Good morning." He greeted Obi-Wan. "I figured I'd make breakfast as a way to thank you for, you know, everything." Obi-Wan just smiled at him. He figured Anakin would eventually stop thanking him, probably around the end of the month, when he would have to start paying rent. "Um, I did use most of the things that were on the fridge. But don't worry, I'll replace everything." He hastily added.

"It's okay, you live here now, so the food is also for you." Obi-Wan said in an attempt to calm him down. Anakin could turn into an anxious mess in a matter of seconds, or at least that was what he had gathered from their few interactions. "If you want anything in particular for next week, just write it down on that list on the side of the fridge. I usually do the shopping on Saturdays. We can split the total afterwards." He explained. His shopping routine has been the same for as long as he could remember.

"Oh my gosh, are you that organized about _everything_?" Anakin joked, no longer nervous.

* * *

And that's how Anakin suddenly became part of his daily routine, which was now slightly different. Before, he used to wake up and make himself a light breakfast, going on his morning run afterwards. Now, he woke up to Anakin making a light breakfast for the both of them. They tried to insult each other as much as possible while eating, which usually ended in one of them finally cracking up with laughter. Then they would say goodbye and Obi-Wan would go out running, while Anakin rode his motorcycle to work. Sometime during the afternoon, they would text each other to decide what to have for dinner, which Obi-Wan would usually cook while they talked about their days at their respective jobs.

After just a couple days, Obi-Wan's apartment, which had usually been so quiet that he had even considered getting a pet, became full of chatter whenever both of them were home.

Anakin was finally able to move his furniture after a couple days, so he stopped sleeping on the couch, but they still watched TV there every night. Obi-Wan had never really had a close friend, but he had to admit it felt nice. Living with someone else had some drawbacks, like constant noise, but it was nothing too bad.

"Obi-Wan, this is the third week since I moved in, and I haven't once seen you go out somewhere that isn't the supermarket or the bank. Don't tell me you're planning to spend _another_ Saturday watching _Stranger Things_ , because one, I know you've watched it before, and two, stop being so damn boring all the time." Anakin teased him when he got home from work Saturday afternoon.

"Oh, like you weren't going to watch it with me." He snapped back. "And it's not like you're going out either, so just hand me the popcorn I asked you for and bring a blanket. It's cold." Anakin laughed and shook his head, handing him a bag full of snacks, which also contained a bottle of cheap tequila.

"Did you watch the season finale without me?" Anakin asked when he came out of his room carrying a blanket. He had changed into black sweatpants and a t-shirt that was kind of too small on him. Obi-Wan did his best not to stare. The more he looked at Anakin, the more conviced he was that he could have been a male model instead of a mechanic. It was a fact: Anakin's beauty wasn't up for interpretation. He was attractive in a conventional sort of way, even when he was wearing ugly comfortable clothes.

"Nope. I was waiting for you. You know, if you actually finished your work _on time_ , you wouldn't have to work Saturdays." Anakin just threw one of the sofa cushions at him.

"Try running your own business and then you can criticize me." He snorted. "Here, drink." He said as he handed Obi-Wan the now open bottle of tequila.

"There's no way in hell I am drinking your poison. I don't understand how you can even put this garbage into your body."

"Like you don't put garbage into your body." Anakin said, pointing to the bag full of junk food that he had bought for Obi-Wan on his way home. Obi-Wan hugged his bag of popcorn defensively.

"I run and eat healthy six days a week. I deserve to live a little on Saturdays." He defended himself.

"You call eating popcorn and gummy bears and watching a TV show for _kids_ living a little? Wow, you're a real party animal." He retorted, which Obi-Wan considered amusingly ironic, because he was the one drinking tequila straight out of the bottle.

* * *

As expected, Anakin had woken up hungover the next day, and Obi-Wan had gone off to attend Sunday mass. It was the only part of his routine in which he had not included Anakin since he moved in. They had never talked about religion, at least not seriously, and Obi-Wan didn't feel quite ready to share a part of himself. To joke and banter was one thing, but sharing the most important thing in his life with someone else was something Obi-Wan was not ready to do. Especially when that part of his life could bring out mixed feelings within him from time to time.

And so far, that's the way it was between them: they would do everything together, they would constantly talk, and joke, the same way that people who were incredibly close would do it, but in reality, they knew nothing about one another. At least not really. He knew all about Anakin's job, he knew his former employee and roommate had left him. After all, that had been the event that had led to their current housing situation. He knew all of Anakin's favorite foods, and that he drank multiple times a week, way past the healthy limit. He had come to learn about the things he liked in TV shows, his favorite actors and directors. And Anakin knew that Obi-Wan was square and old-fashioned, that he always arrived on time and he drank tea instead of coffee or alcohol. He knew that Obi-Wan was a health nut except on Saturdays, when he spent most of the day without moving from the couch and stuffing his face with junk food, looking uncharacteristically sad. And he knew that come Sunday morning, all traces of that person would be gone, replaced by his usual self.

But despite this, there had always been an inexplicable barrier between them. They knew each other better than anyone else, and yet, none of them knew anything about the person they shared a house with. Somehow, in a funny twist of fate, two utterly friendless people had become friends, without the implications of an actual friendship. Since that had happened, Obi-Wan somewhat stopped feeling so alone, but at the same time, he felt more alone than ever.

The subtle distance between them remained for a while, until Anakin ultimately took the first step. Obi-Wan had noticed that his roommate had been acting weird lately, but he never asked. After all, their friendship was not the _tell-each-other-things_ kind, more like the _always-hanging-out_ kind. Anakin had already been living in the apartment for two months, and he stuck to their routine as rigorously as Obi-Wan himself. So naturally, when Anakin had come home late on a Saturday afternoon, Obi-Wan started suspecting that something was wrong.

They always spent their Saturday afternoons together. Anakin usually only worked a half day and Obi-Wan didn't work at all. As soon as Anakin arrived home, they would settle on the couch: they watched TV under a blanket, Anakin would drink and Obi-Wan would eat his fair share of whatever kind of junk food he fancied in that moment. Normally, Anakin would arrive around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, but that day, Obi-Wan stared at the clock until half past six.

When he finally came through the door, Obi-Wan became instantly annoyed as he realized that Anakin hadn't even bothered to get him the box of brownies he had asked for. He was about to scold him or playfully insult him, as they usually did, but he never got around to it, because Anakin sat down right next to him on the couch and, to Obi-Wan's astonishment, wrapped his arm around him. It wasn't a sentimental embrace, or a friendly pat in the back, it was as if Anakin was using Obi-Wan to steady himself. After overcoming his initial shock at the unfamiliarity of physical contact, Obi-Wan noticed that Anakin _already_ smelled like booze.

Despite his juvenile behavior, Anakin was very responsible when it came to drinking. He never did it if he was going to drive, as he had already been involved in a motorcycle accident once, and he drank at home exclusively. So for him to arrive home after driving drunk, it was extremely out of character.

"Anakin, what in God's name…" Obi-Wan started asking, but he was suddenly interrupted by his drunk companion.

"Obi Kenobi!" Anakin exclaimed with the kind of enthusiasm that could only come from drunk people. "You are my genie in a bottle!" He pointed at Obi-Wan's chest, poking it. He then laughed briefly and proceeded to bury his face in said chest. Obi-Wan was rendered speechless for a moment. He briefly considered pushing the other man away, but then he couldn't. The artificial light of their living room was illuminating Anakin's shiny hair, making it look golden. Obi-Wan couldn't decide between running a hand through it or throwing himself out the fire escape out of sheer embarassment. He couldn't remember the last time someone had shown him at least a little bit of affection. "I made three wishes, and they came true. You made them happen." Anakin continued laughing, but Obi-Wan didn't think any of it was funny. He was equal parts mortified and concerned for his roommate.

"Let me get you some water." He attempted to stand up to go to the kitchen, but Anakin moaned in protest and wrapped his arms strongly around Obi-Wan's shoulders to push him down.

"Don't go! I'm talking to you. You made my wishes come true." He said as he held Obi-Wan tighter.

"Anakin, what are you even talking about?"

"When I drink, I make wishes." he explained as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "First, I wished to stop being homeless, and you came along." Obi-Wan froze in place when Anakin started touching his beard and giggling at his own actions. He didn't have a lot of experience with drunk people, but he hoped this didn't become a regular occurrence. He was beginning to feel really uncomfortable in the presence of Anakin's touchy-feely drunk persona. "Then, I wished to stop feeling lonely and you fixed that!" Despite his discomfort, Obi-Wan couldn't help but feel a little touched by that. "And then I wished to find the courage to talk to you, so I drank some more and now I am talking to you! But I guess I did that myself, didn't I?" He frowned.

"I don't understand, why did you need to talk to me? And get off my neck, you're suffocating me." It was partially true, even if Anakin wasn't aware that the main source of suffocation were not his arms but Obi-Wan's own embarrassment at the situation.

"Right, sorry." Anakin eased up his grip on Obi-Wan, and he looked away for a few moments. His smile and giggles were suddenly gone, as if he had sobered up in less than a minute. "I need to ask you a favor, well, two favors..."

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! The next chapter will be up soon.  
> I hope you are liking this story, and comments are welcome!  
> Love, RVxx


	3. The Absent One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan finds himself in an unexpected state of loneliness when his roommate leaves on a trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeey~  
> Sorry about taking a few days to update!  
> These chapters are already written so I was trying to release one a day, but I have been busy with some repairs being done in my home and I hadn't even turned on the computer lol  
> Soooo this is a short filler chapter, it's the shortest one so far.  
> Oh, and I think this is a good time to explain the structure of this story... There will be 3 chapters in Obi-Wan's POV followed by one in Anakin's, then another 3 in Obi-Wan's, and so forth! So, that means the next one will be Ani's!!  
> I hope you enjoy <3

In spite of his anger at Anakin's drunken ridicule a week ago, Obi-Wan started missing him as soon as he was gone. That night, after Obi-Wan had put some food and water in him, his roommate sobered up quite a lot, or at least enough to stop giggling like a school girl and to start speaking coherently. After dancing around the subject for a while, he finally caved and told Obi-Wan that the reason he was such a wreck was because he was going to his step-brother's wedding in Arizona in a couple days.

Obi-Wan didn't push the subject, because he could sense that there was something Anakin was not telling him, probably a family feud or something else that would make said wedding uncomfortable. He had asked Obi-Wan if he could borrow one of his suits because, not surprisingly, Anakin didn't own any. Obi-Wan's clothes didn't fit him perfectly because he was taller, so the pants were a little bit short on Anakin, but it was nothing that couldn't be mended by the seamstress that lived across the hall from them.

 _"Are you going to wear your hair like that?"_ Obi-Wan had asked in an attempt to make a joke to lighten the mood, but Anakin shrugged, unamused. That had been a clear sign that there had been something troubling his young friend.

Anakin had also asked if Obi-Wan could drive him to the airport. He was going to stay in Arizona for a week, so he didn't want to pay that much parking for his motorcycle. Besides, he had said he didn't want to drive there alone. It was a reasonable enough favor to ask. Driving your friend to the airport was something any good Samaritan would agree to, and it didn't interfere with his work schedule. Explicitly asking for his company in such an emotional way was not something that Anakin had previously done, but Obi-Wan knew that he didn't have it in his heart to say no. It was definitely something that Obi-Wan was not used to.

When the day came, Obi-Wan drove Anakin to the airport and hugged him goodbye. It was the first time he had voluntarily hugged Anakin since they met, and he liked the newly found feeling. For the past few days, Anakin had seemed really troubled. Any time Obi-Wan went near him, he could feel a dark cloud of sadness. But as soon as he had hugged Anakin goodbye, his friend's feelings instantly relaxed. Anakin didn't seem like he wanted to let go, and for a second, Obi-Wan somehow could _feel_ what Anakin was thinking. It was probably just his imagination, but he thought he heard a faint whisper of the word _home_. When he looked at Anakin, though, his lips weren't moving.

He watched Anakin stand in line to go through security. He kept glancing back at his friend and smiling nervously, until he took a final look back and disappeared into the waiting room.

For the next couple days, Obi-Wan tried to busy himself with work, with cleaning the house, with _anything_ that would help him keep his mind off his new found loneliness. He was not really sure exactly _when_ he had started taking Anakin's presence for granted, but now he was gone, and even if it was just for a week, Obi-Wan felt empty. It was funny to think that he had lived alone for more than ten years, his only company being occasional one-night stands -and that one time his childhood friend Quinlan had stayed over for a week and almost _destroyed_ his apartment-, but he had been perfectly content with his own loneliness. Now, he'd had company for less than three months, and he was already going crazy after spending two days alone.

Anakin had been sending sporadic texts, but there was a certain distance to them. First, he had texted Obi-Wan to tell him that his plane had landed safely, and his step-brother had picked him up from the airport. The next day, he had sent a picture of the tie he was wearing, which went well with the suit Obi-Wan had loaned him. A couple hours later, he had apparently sent a drunken text that made no sense, followed by a perfectly coherent and impeccably spelled _I miss home_. And after that, nothing. Silence.

The rest of the weekend was torture. During weekdays and even Friday, Anakin's absence didn't sting as much, but their weekends were usually spent together. Obi-Wan didn't really find any comfort in watching TV alone, or at least not anymore. It was something he had done almost every day before Anakin came into his life, but now that felt like it was something they did together. He didn't find any comfort in junk food, and he was hit by a bitter feeling when he realized that he no longer found comfort in his own home.

He grabbed two sets of keys as he left his house, heading towards Anakin's shop. He had given Obi-Wan the keys and asked him to keep an eye on the place, so he figured it was a good time to make good on his commitment. He listened to the messages on the answering machine, carefully writing down every necessary detail to make Anakin's job easier on his return. He picked up the mail and organized it into two piles: bills and junk. The second pile consisted mostly of car magazines, take out fliers and one envelope addressed to Anakin personally in sloppy handwriting. He checked that everything was okay with the security system and left, determined to pick up a book to distract himself for the rest of the weekend.

When that failed, he resorted to running, and when that also failed, he resorted to praying, but then he wasn't even sure what to say. For the longest time, his faith had been the most important part of his life. He was an orphan, he had been raised by priests in a catholic group home, so it was only natural that he had found comfort in religion his entire life. But right now, his faith felt a little shaky. He loved God, and that unconditional love had been a driving force throughout his life. His love for God wasn't shaking, not at all, but lately he'd been feeling frustrated at the hypocrisy that came hand in hand with being part of a religion.

Almost every day, he had to deal with people who made hefty donations to ease their guilty consciences. These people were adulterers, greedy scammers and criminals, men who beat their wives, and yet, they were held in the uttermost regard by the high-ranking members of the clergy. He knew a lot of that money went into charity and multiple ventures to help the less fortunate, but that didn't mean the church was not drowning in money. He knew that those cases were not the rule, there were a lot of people who did a lot of good in the world through religion.

 _Am I one of them?,_ he had been wondering lately. He had always liked his job, liked the comfort and stability it provided. He liked being able to plan charity events and make himself useful. He liked those times when he was left in charge of the Sunday school kids for a short period of time. He even enjoyed talking to soon-to-be-married couples, walking them through the necessary steps to get married. He did like his job, but now he was feeling burnt out. He figured it was time for him to take a vacation, but he would have to figure that out at a later time.

At least, he would wait for Anakin to return. With him gone, his life felt strangely out of balance, clinging to a fragile tether that was often threatening to break. He often found himself looking out the window, in the general direction of Arizona, trying to grasp whatever it was that would make him feel whole.

But so far, nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


	4. The Dreamer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin tells the story of his trip back home, in which he starts having strange dreams and reflecting upon his feelings for his new best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeeey!  
> Again, sorry for the delay, I have been super busy buuuuut here I am again, posting another chapter...  
> This is the first chapter in Anakin's POV, Obi-Wan will be back in the next one.  
> I hope you enjoy!  
> Love, RVxx

Anakin knew that he had been acting clingy ever since he returned to the city.

He hated himself a little bit for making Obi-Wan feel uncomfortable at the increasing number of hugs and lingering touches, but going back home for Owen and Beru's wedding had hit him really hard, and spending time with his friend provided him with some much-needed comfort.

_But it's so much more than that_ , he thought to himself, reluctantly. Since he was a little kid back in Arizona, he had been the very definition of a popular kid: the other kids were always trying to catch his attention, desperate to become his friends. But he hadn't cared back then and he didn't care now. He had only cared about building robots out of home appliances, even if some of them were a complete failure.

When his mom had married Cliegg, his new stepdad had tasked Anakin with repairing his old classic car, a task which he achieved slowly. After Cliegg lost his leg in a hit-and-run, Anakin became the family's official repairman and mechanic, given that Owen was more interested in growing his own vegetable garden than fixing things.

Being able to build robots and fix cars -like his mother had taught him- was something that made Anakin immensely popular with the other kids, especially around teen age. The fact that he was tall and handsome only added to his charm, but he was never interested on fake friends who only wanted to feed off his popularity.

For as long as he could remember, his only real friend had been Padmé. She was a couple years older than him, but they had struck up a sincere friendship in which they talked about everything from family troubles to what they wanted to be when they grew up. Anakin was content with Padmé as his only friend, and besides, his mom had always said that people should be able to count their true friends on one hand, with fingers to spare.

When Padmé was a senior in high school and Anakin was a sophomore, their mutual friends had gone out of their way to play matchmaker, until they eventually became a couple. At first, Anakin had been really happy about it. He saw Padmé as the ideal person for him: someone who would always look up to him, someone who would never leave his side, no matter what. She had been a textbook example of a first love: it felt good in the beginning, but it didn't last.

A couple of months later, she had left for college. She could have attended the local college to stay close to Anakin and her family. She could have even moved a couple of hours away, making visiting easy. But no, she just _had_ to move to the other side of the country. It was as if she didn't even _care_ about Anakin's feelings on the matter, only muttering half-hearted apologies about wanting to fulfill her dream of becoming a politician. To Anakin, sometimes it seemed like she did it on purpose, like she had tried to be as far away from him as possible.

They had stayed in touch somewhat, emailing each other every once in a while. That was until Anakin graduated high school and he got a job at a local car shop, where he worked his ass off like a slave. Watto, the shop owner, was a nice person and he became like a second father to Anakin –since he never knew who his real father was, he always thought of Cliegg as his father–, and after a few weeks of working for him, he lent Anakin some money so he could get himself a motorcycle.

After that, Anakin started participating in some barely-legal motorcycle races, where Watto made a fortune betting on him. Anakin soon became a racing legend, until an accident brought his racing career to an end. After the accident, he spent almost a week in the hospital. He was lucky, his injuries were minimal, compared to what could have happened. His motorcycle had landed on top of him, and even though his helmet had protected him from a head injury, some piece of hot metal had made a long gash in his face, unbelievably close to his eye.

His arm hadn't been so lucky. His right forearm had been trapped under the weight of his motorcycle, resulting in multiple fractures on both his arm and hand. When he woke up for the first time after the accident, his mother had told him that the doctors were pretty sure that he was going to lose his arm, but they had managed to save it by some miracle. He had been able to make a full recovery after rest and physical therapy.

After hearing about his accident, Padmé had gotten in contact with him again. After she graduated, she moved back home, and she and Anakin rekindled their relationship. Again, it died out as quickly as it came to life. The whole Padmé experience left Anakin with more emotional scars than he cared to admit.

After his mother died, he desperately wanted to get out of Arizona. He had come to loathe the god-forsaken desert, which only held memories that were now too painful for him: the adrenaline rush he got whenever he raced, then having drinks with Watto after he won the race. Having fun with Padmé in her family's huge mansion, skinny-dipping in the pool at midnight. His mother and Cliegg, who still had both his legs, bickering about the silliest things, like who could make a better sandwich. The day that Beru had showed up at their house with a suitcase, crying her eyes out, while he and his mom hugged her and told her she was part of the family now. His mother, a couple hours before she died, kissing him goodbye and telling him to have a nice day at work.

The memories became too much, they kept playing in his head like a slideshow. Those were memories that, up to this day, he had never shared with anyone, not even Obi-Wan.

After moving all the way from Arizona, his first months living in the city were lonely, at least until he met Ahsoka. She had come to the shop looking for work as a receptionist, even a cleaning lady, anything that would make her a little money. But Anakin had seen her potential, and he started mentoring her so she could become a mechanic like him. She was a college drop-out with no money and no close family, so Anakin moved out of his tiny studio apartment and they rented a two-bedroom together, becoming each other's family. Her on-and-off boyfriend would visit sometimes, and Anakin saw him like family, too.

He and Ahsoka became inseparable, the best of friends. They got fake IDs together and fooled countless bartenders and liquor store cashiers into thinking that they were old enough to drink. That went on for about a year, until they both turned 21 and got real IDs. Building his own business from the ground was not easy, but he put a lot of effort into it, and with Ahsoka's help, the shop gradually gained a clientele. Their nights out became more infrequent as the shop got busier, but they still made a point of keeping some bottles at home to share when the workload stressed them out.

Anakin was really happy with his successful business, and the fact that he had a friend. That changed one Friday night when, after drinking a little bit too much, Anakin told Ahsoka what had _really_ happened with Padmé. After that, his friend began acting weird, and a week later she was gone. She had told Anakin she had PMS and she couldn't go to work that day. He had been sympathetic towards her, telling her to stay home to rest and recover. That evening, after coming home from work later than usual because of the extra workload, he found Ahsoka's room empty, all her belongings gone. The next morning, when Anakin went to get the mail, he found a formally typed up resignation letter from her, listing no reason for her sudden departure.

She had disappeared just like that, like she didn't give a damn about the person who had been by her side through thick and thin for more than three years. Anakin had cried himself to sleep that night. After falling asleep, he had dreamt about Ahsoka throwing away her car necklace -the one Anakin had given her on her twenty-third birthday- on top of a random grave at the cemetery. He had woken up sweating and almost unable to breathe.

But then came Obi-Wan.

Anakin felt incredibly guilty at the fact that he had taken an entire week to fix a simple gasoline pump issue, but he was busy packing up his apartment, which he didn't really want to keep without Ahsoka's help. The shop made enough money for him to live a comfortable lifestyle and he supposed that he could keep the apartment, but he would much rather invest that money into the shop than waste it on an empty bedroom. Once again, he fled from bitter memories and settled for the comfort of his office, even if it was anything but comfortable. When Obi-Wan had offered him a room, he was so grateful for the opportunity at a fresh start that he had hugged the man, not caring that Obi-Wan was in fact a stranger. A very shy and proper stranger who didn't seem to like physical contact.

Over the course of two months, Anakin was convinced that he had found his soulmate. People often believed that a soulmate was supposed to be a lover: a wife or a husband, a girlfriend or boyfriend. But he didn't believe that. He was one of those people who believed that a soulmate could be a sibling, a parent, a friend; the important thing was that they held half of your soul, and they were the most important thing in the world to you.

Back in high school, Anakin had lost a bet to Beru and he'd had to read one of those young adult fantasy book sagas she liked so much. The whole thing had bored him to death, but he remembered one scene in particular: one of the characters, through some magic power Anakin didn't remember, was able to appear as the person you loved the most. After endlessly bickering with Obi-Wan for months -the same way his mother and Cliegg had done as a way to show love-, he was sure that, in that scenario, he would see Obi-Wan's face, no doubt.

He had gotten so used to Obi-Wan's presence that, when he left for the wedding, he was sure he could still feel Obi-Wan besides him, even if he wasn't. He could swear that, sometimes, in the middle of the night, he could hear Obi-Wan's voice in his dreams.

_You're finally going crazy_ , he thought to himself, even if he knew that it was normal to dream about Obi-Wan. After all, he shared a house with the man, and dreams often depicted different aspects of people's daily lives.

The last night before he flew back home, he had an uncharacteristically vivid dream, as vivid as the dreams he'd had about his mother's death weeks before it happened. But this dream was nothing bad. In fact, he had no idea what it mean. It was a little bit strange, but soothing nonetheless.

_He was walking in the middle of the desert, but it was desolated and unfamiliar, not in Arizona. This was probably the Sahara desert in Africa, of which Anakin had seen pictures before. He saw himself walk miles and miles, his only company a walking stick and an almost-empty water flask._

_After watching his journey for what seemed like forever, he reached some type of iron gate, similar to those in old mansions. Somehow, he knew that he needed a remote control to open it, but he didn't see it anywhere, and there was no buzzer, no intercom, nothing he could use to ask for help. He sat down on the sand, defeatedly drinking the last of his water. He closed his eyes, deciding to wait for whoever lived inside those gates to come out and help him, but no one came._

_When he finally opened his eyes, he thought he was seeing a mirage, but when he extended his hands to touch it, he discovered it was real. In front of him laid scrap pieces of metal, a long piece of wire, a couple screwdrivers and a pair of batteries. His mom had often said that everything in life happened because of God's will, and in that moment, he believed it. He believed he was being tested by God, so he set out to build a remote control so that he could finally get the mysterious gate to open._

_He worked for what seemed like hours, and he smiled the biggest smile ever when his creation worked, and the gate finally opened. He walked along a gravel road for a couple minutes, climbing up a steep hill, and when he reached the top, he saw the most bizarre thing he had ever seen._

_Just bellow the hill, there was an amusement park. And it wasn't just any amusement park, it was Disneyland. Or maybe it was Disney World. He had never been to either one of them, but he could have recognized those characters anywhere. Most of the people were wearing mouse ears or some type of memorabilia, while some other people were eating different kinds of candy and delicious looking food._

_"Ticket please!" A girl said when he reached the entrance. His head turned in surprise when he recognized Ahsoka's voice. It was definitely her, but her hair was bright red instead of blonde, the same color as the little mermaid._

_"Uh, I don't have one."_

_"In your hand, sir." The redheaded Ahsoka replied. When he looked down at his hand, he saw that he was indeed holding a ticket, which he quietly handed to her. "Have fun." She said with a smile._

_Anakin walked into the first shop he could find, positively delighted to see it was a bakery. He was starving from his walk across the desert, but most of all, he was thirsty, so thirsty that he would have drunk sewer water without a second thought. He threw away his walking stick, running inside the store. He vaguely noticed that he was no longer wearing his desert-walking atire. He was dressed in a character t-shirt and wore all kinds of memorabillia, including mouse ears._

_"I'll have the biggest bottle of water you sell." He said when he finally reached the cashier, after patiently waiting in line for his turn. "And five of these. Thank you." He pointed at a random baked good on display, and he was pleasantly surprised when he saw that they were brownies._

_"That would be 50 republic credits." The cashier informed him._

_"Republic credits? What is that? I only have US dollars!" He answered as he frantically searched his wallet. He didn't have a clue as to what the lady was talking about._

_"That would be the card on the front, sir." The lady pointed out, nosily exploring his waller with her eyes._

_He waited a little bit longer until his purchase was finally handed to him. He decided it was more likely he would die of thirst than hunger, so he started taking careful sips from his huge water bottle. When he heard his name being called out behind him, he turned his head so fast in surprise that he almost spit up the water._

_Obi-Wan was walking towards him, carrying three different shopping bags and a pair of paper cups with their names written down on them. For a split second, he was able to see that Obi-Wan's cup had a tiny heart drawn next to his name, along with a phone number, but Obi-Wan quickly repositioned the cup and covered the writing with his big hand._

_"Did you get the brownies?" He asked, taking a look into the paper bag Anakin was holding, which contained said brownies. "I'm sorry if the line was too long, but these are my favorite brownies in the world. I promise I'll make it up to you, dear." He planted a huge kiss on Anakin's cheek, and just as he was about to open his mouth to say something, the dream faded away._

He had woken up looking for Obi-Wan, until he realized that he wasn't in his room, this wasn't their apartment and he was in Arizona, hundreds of miles away. Normally, his dreams faded from his memory pretty quickly, and he wasn't able to remember them an hour after waking up. But this dream didn't fade, and he found himself thinking about that last part throughout the whole day. He loved Obi-Wan with all his heart, their months-old friendship had become the most important thing in the world for him.

But he had never thought about his feelings being romantic, or at least not until the dream, anyway. _Would it be so wrong if I really felt that way?_ , he asked himself. He and Obi-Wan had never even come close to discussing sexual orientation, but the way Anakin saw it, love had no gender. Sure, his only serious reationship had been with a woman, but that didn't mean that he couldn't consider falling in love with a man.

Throughout his life, he had seen the workings of various successful couples: Cliegg and his mother, Owen and Beru, even Ahsoka and Rex, the boyfriend that kept breaking up with her because he was in the army, and he wanted to spare her the pain of having her boyfriend die. He always came back and they always got back together in the end. Anakin was sure that once Rex got discharged, they were going to be together for life.

Sure, those were straight couples, but the things that made their relationships thrive had _nothing_ to do with them being people of the opposite sex. It had been the specifics of their personalities, the little details about their interactions that made those people important to each other.

If he thought hard about it, he could see how Obi-Wan completed him: he was classy and educated, stern and serious, but lighthearted and kind. Anakin, on the other hand, was rebellious and sometimes reckless, he spoke his mind, up to the point where he could be downright rude. Whereas Obi-Wan was shy and modest and cool tempered, Anakin was passionate and impulsive, he craved touch and emotions more than anything. Being himself felt like a storm, but Obi-Wan had become his safe space, his home. They could pack up and move all the way to the North Pole, far away from their apartment, and he would still be home as long as he had Obi-Wan with him.

And that was why he had been showing little bits of affection towards Obi-Wan at every possible opportunity. He was determined to find out if there was even a one-percent chance that Obi-Wan could be inclined to feel the same way, but he was trying not to hope too much. Every time he hugged his friend or squeezed his shoulder, he was prepared to be shut down. For the first few days since he had come back from his trip, he braced himself for rejection, but it never came. Obi-Wan didn't exactly return his affectionate gestures, but he didn't push him away, either.

Ever since he had come back, his heart had been growing heavy with the memories of that place, sad ghosts following him wherever he went. But every moment he spent with Obi-Wan took a little weight off him. Nothing had changed in their relationship, at least not really. They cooked for each other every day and they spent countless hours staring at the TV, binging on different TV shows. They still texted each other at work to discuss food or daily occurrences, like when Obi-Wan had texted him from the church bathroom, telling him that he had seen one of the priests slip and fall on his ass, and he had locked himself in there to laugh about it instead of helping.

Everything was the same, except for Anakin's discreet touches here and there.

With every passing day, every single one of those touches made his burden a little bit less heavy. He was slowly coming to realize that he liked the calm more than the storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it!!!


	5. The Honest Roommate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin talks about his past and his family, and Obi-Wan talks about his past relationships.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Here's another chapter, yay.  
> I would like to provide some disclaimers here:  
> First of all, this chapter contains spoilers about How I met your mother. It's random, I know, but the previous chapters have established the premise that our boys like to watch TV shows together, and HIMYM is one of them. If you have not watched it, then maybe save this chapter for afterwards lol.  
> Second, I would like to point out that, while I am not religious right now, I was very religious during my childhood and teenage years. I respect everyone's opinions and I do not wish to offend anyone who is or isn't religious. While I talk a tiny bit about religion in this story, I will steer clear of moral discussions and anything of the sort. The topic will only be touched in a superficial way. I will say more about this in the end notes because the rest of this disclaimer will spoil the beginning of the chapter lol, so enjoy!  
> Love, RVxx

One eventful Friday afternoon found Obi-Wan starving.

Wedding season was about to start, and his days were gradually becoming busier. The church that Obi-Wan worked at was particularly coveted because of the large number of people it was able to accommodate. That was one of the reasons why an administrator was needed in the first place.

He had given up his lunch hour to meet with yet another desperate couple trying to secure a date before every single church in the city was booked. Obi-Wan figured he'd just wait until dinner to eat, but at barely 2 p.m., his stomach was growling loudly.

He rarely indulged in fast food, but given the amount of work he had to do, he decided it was his best option. He had driven to the closest burger joint and ordered though the drive-thru. He closed his office door, determined to enjoy his five minutes of peace while eating. His mouth was overly stuffed with cheeseburger when he heard a soft knock on his door.

"Mr. Kenobi?" Father Yoda asked, poking his head in. He was so short, the sight was comical. He chuckled when he noticed he had interrupted Obi-Wan in the middle of his meal. "Eating a burger, I have caught you. How embarrassing, how embarrassing."

Father Yoda was from Portugal. He was very old now, but he had moved to the US when he was in his forties. It had taken him a couple years to learn English, and he still struggled a little bit. The way in which he spoke was perfectly understandable, but his use of grammar was often questionable.

"Father Yoda, I apologize, I haven't had a minute to eat all day, and I was starving." Obi-Wan greeted him, motioning for him to sit on the chair opposite him.

"A question, I was meaning to ask you." Obi-Wan nodded in encouragement. "Go to the doctor and buy a walking cane, I must. Fall to the floor while walking, I do." He stated, and Obi-Wan tried his hardest to keep a straight face. He had witnessed Father Yoda's falls a couple times. The first few times, he had been worried and rushed to his side to help him, but he now knew that his falls were a regular occurence and they were never serious; more like tripping and getting back up. "Take care of tomorrow's baptism, Father Mundi can?"

"I don't think that would be a problem, Father. I'll update everyone's calendars. Did you check next week's?"

"Your email, I have read. Busy with weddings, we will all be soon." Father Yoda smiled.

"We will, Father. I think I might need a vacation when the wedding rush dies down a little bit. I'll keep you updated on that." As the senior priest, Yoda was often the one that Obi-Wan reported to.

"Finish your meal, Mr. Kenobi. And God bless you." He replied in an unusually coherent sentence. He stood up and took his leave, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Obi-Wan's day significantly improved later that evening. Anakin arrived home a little bit later than usual, but he seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood. He even helped Obi-Wan with dinner, which was something he never did. Cooking was not one of Anakin's many talents. His cooking abilities only went as far as pancakes and a few different types of soup. After almost cutting his own finger off a couple weeks back, Obi-Wan had suggested that he should stay out of the kitchen except for those simple meals.

"Guess what?" Anakin asked when they both sat down to eat dinner.

"You have finally found a life and you're going out tonight?" Obi-Wan replied. Their lack of social lives and partying -like most people in their twenties and thirties did- was a topic that frequently came out while teasing each other. By that point in their relationship, neither of them took offense. After all, it was true. None of them was fond of parties or nightclubs, and none of them had many friends. In fact, Obi-Wan hadn't met a single friend of Anakin's.

"No, even better." Anakin answered, frowning slightly when he realized he was about to insult himself. Obi-Wan laughed. "Well, better by your boring standards, anyway. I finished all of my work and I'm taking the day off tomorrow."

"That's actually good. Will you finally accompany me running or is that too boring by your standards?" Obi-Wan remarked.

"I already told you, I'm never running with you. But I thought we could do the shopping together and then we can make a nice day out of it. We can order in so that you can get a break from cooking?" Anakin asked, and for a moment Obi-Wan was able to _feel_ his enthusiasm at the idea.

"That actually sounds nice. I was afraid you were going to suggest going to a biker bar or something." Anakin threw a paper napkin at him, and Obi-Wan was able to catch it before it landed on his plate.

"I do _not_ go to biker bars. But if you love the idea so much then let's go by all means. You'd finally ride the motorcycle with me." Obi-Wan laughed in an attempt to hide his embarrassment. Anakin had offered him motorcycle rides multiple times, but the idea of holding on to Anakin's waist for dear life was mortifying.

"I like your other idea better. Do you want to pick the food?" Obi-Wan asked, hoping to divert the topic away from motorcycle embraces.

"We can vote tomorrow." Anakin picked up their now empty plates and carried them towards the sink. "Turn on the TV, I can't wait to find out who the mother is!" He called from the kitchen, referencing the TV show that Obi-Wan had gotten him to watch.

It was not the first time Obi-Wan watched _How I met your mother_ , but he had done an extraordinarily good job at not spoiling anything for Anakin. Over the last few months, they had gotten each other to watch their favorite shows, and it had been Obi-Wan's turn to pick one. They had watched five seasons so far, and Anakin's day off meant they would be able to make some significant progress.

After Anakin was done with the dishes, he made himself comfortable under the blanket they always shared and lightly rested his head on Obi-Wan's shoulder. It was a habit Anakin had developed over the course of the past few weeks. The first time he had done it, Obi-Wan had raised his eyebrows and made a _get off me_ face at him, but Anakin either failed to catch his meaning or he simply didn't care.

Obi-Wan couldn't really complain much, though. The smell of Anakin's shampoo was always intoxicating, and he was grateful for the fact that, unlike him, Anakin wasn't afraid to show affection. He sometimes wished he could be bold enough to do the same, to hug Anakin every once in a while to show him that he appreciated him, that he enjoyed his company and most of all, he enjoyed _him_. He enjoyed every one of his little quirks, even the ones that were infuriating, like his tendency to leave his things lying around their apartment. He figured that the fact that Anakin never pulled away meant that he understood and he appreciated Obi-Wan too.

After watching several episodes, they had reached one of the most emotional episodes of the show. Obi-Wan had watched it before and already knew what happened, so he wasn't shocked or sad when Marshall's father died at the end of an episode-long mysterious countdown. It was not the same for Anakin, though. His friend was silent, but Obi-Wan felt a water drop on his shoulder, and he realized that Anakin was crying.

He silently moved his hand up and started stroking Anakin's long hair, in what he hoped would be a comforting gesture. He grabbed the remote with his other hand, careful not to move too much, and paused the credits. He would wait until Anakin stopped crying before resuming the show. With every passing minute, his shoulder became wetter.

"Are you okay?" He asked quietly. Anakin sniffed, but he nodded against his shoulder.

"Yeah, sorry, it's just that I know what that feels like. To lose a parent, I mean. My mom died a few years ago." He explained, not looking at Obi-Wan.

"I'm sorry." Obi-Wan expressed sincerely. He was an orphan, he had been raised by priests and nuns his entire life, so he didn't know what it was like to lose a parent to death. However, he had mourned for his parents, whoever they were, for his entire life. He had mourned family members, a family life. It was something he had never known until a few months back, when Anakin unexpectedly became his family.

Obi-Wan met a lot of people through his job. He didn't necessarily call them friends, more like good acquaintances or comrades. Despite what Anakin thought, he wasn't completely antisocial. On the contrary, he enjoyed socializing and casual conversation, he had just grown past fake, time-consuming friendships a long time ago. He knew that, oftentimes, people without families or with troubling family lives chose to build their own, be it with a partner or a family of friends, like the five people on the TV show.

Obi-Wan had never really done either. Before Anakin came along, Obi-Wan's closest friend had probably been Father Windu. They weren't exactly close friends, but Father Windu had a mischievous streak that the other priests didn't. They would often play card games and bet a few dollars, even if, much to his frustration, Obi-Wan always lost. Not exactly the epitome of a close and loving friendship, but it was nice company nonetheless.

In the romantic department, Obi-Wan had the outstanding score of two failed relationships, even if the use of the word relationship was a slight exaggeration in both cases. During his teenage years, he had fallen in love with one of his high school teachers, a man named Qui-Gon Jinn, who was three times his age. Given the fact that loving another man wasn't exactly something the church approved of and that a teenager with a fifty-year-old wasn't exactly something the law approved of, he kept his feelings well hidden. Eventually, after enrolling in college, Obi-Wan contacted his former teacher and they went out a couple times, until Qui-Gon had to move away and they lost contact. Some years later, Obi-Wan received word that the man had died. By then, Obi-Wan knew that the _relationship_ had been very wrong. Sure, they had only gone as far as sharing a couple kisses, and they were both adults, but Obi-Wan had never really stopped to consider that, for starters, they had nothing in common and he knew _nothing_ of Qui-Gon's life. Also, the man had _agreed_ to date one of his former students, who was barely eighteen, like it was the most common thing in the world. _Maybe it was something he did often, who knows_ , Obi-Wan had thought back then.

After turning thirty and witnessing his few friends lead a very different life than he did, Obi-Wan started struggling with the possibility that he might grow old alone. Because of these feelings, he decided to give dating a try. After months of unsuccessful and uncomfortable dates, he met Satine. She was a woman whose company he had actually liked, unlike the awkward dates he had before her. The feeling was mutual, they enjoyed spending time together, but she was a busy businesswoman, CEO of some big company, and she didn't really have the time or the energy to invest in a real relationship. Eventually, she decided that her job was more important than her developing relationship with Obi-Wan, so they stopped seeing each other.

Because of those experiences, the loss of family was something that Obi-Wan understood very well. He hadn't experienced losing his family to death, but for years he had been dealing with the loss of the family that could have been, if he had done things differently. He thought about God watching his every struggle, and he felt a sudden burst of shame. _How pathetic you must think I am. A thirty-five-year-old, alone, clinging to my roommate in hopes of a family_ , he thought. God didn't answer, but on his shoulder, Anakin had slowly stopped crying.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked softly.

"I do," Anakin answered, disentangling himself from Obi-Wan to be able to look him in the eye. "I just don't know where to start, it's a really long story."

"Why is it a long story?" He asked. He hoped he wasn't touching any sensitive topics that Anakin was not ready for. Perhaps his mother had been terminally ill for a long time or something of the sort.

"Because a lot of things happened at the same time, not just my mother dying." He sighed and took a deep breath as if preparing himself to speak for a long period of time. "I miss her a lot, and she died way too young, but death is a natural part of life, I've always known that. I've always known that one day I would have to bury my mother and my stepfather. He actually came close to dying a few years ago and I'd made peace with the idea. Her death hit me especially hard because of all the things that had just happened, and I wasn't ready for it. That's actually why I moved here a few years ago. That place was haunted for me." He explained with a sad expression.

"Is that why you were so sad when you went to the wedding?"

"Yes." Anakin replied sincerely. "I guess I could start by telling you about Owen and Beru." He said, referring to his step-brother and his wife. Anakin had mentioned them in passing a few times. From what Obi-Wan knew, they were high school sweethearts who got married after being together for more than ten years. "They have been together since they were fifteen years old. Beru moved in with us when they were sixteen because her family was very abusive. About a month before my mother died, they thought she was pregnant, so they went to the doctor. They weren't exactly trying to have a child, but they weren't opposed to the idea, so everyone was happy about it. But she wasn't pregnant, she had a tumor. They caught it super early, but it meant that she would never be able to have children.

"It was as if the whole atmosphere in the house had suddenly changed. Everyone was sad, and Beru was bedridden for weeks because of the surgery. My girlfriend at the time, Padmé Naberrie, was older than me, the same age as Owen and Beru. She was their friend, so she spent a lot of time in our house to help with Beru's recovery. The thing is, I already wanted to break up with her. We had already broken up once, and it wasn't working for us the second time around, but I thought I'd wait until Beru got better, because I didn't want to upset anyone or make any abrupt changes to her home-care schedule. I felt like everyone's sanity was already hanging on by a thread. Padmé was part of the family, after all, and I didn't want everyone else to be mad at me for breaking up with her.

"But then I don't know what got into her, the situation with Ru had probably affected her more than I realized, because she started dropping not-so-subtle hints about wanting to have children. I was nineteen, Obi-Wan, I didn't want a child, and I didn't love her, so I tried to do the right thing and I broke up with her once and for all. Hang on, I need a drink." Anakin stood up and started looking for one of his half-empty liquor bottles. He kept a few of them in the kitchen, and now Obi-Wan was beginning to understand Anakin's frequent drinking. He knew Anakin was more emotional than the average person, but he hadn't know about his life struggles, besides the story of the accident that had given him the scar.

This time around, to his surprise, Anakin decided to use actual glasses instead of drinking straight from the bottle. He poured a glass for himself and one for Obi-Wan.

"Thank you." Obi-Wan said, taking a sip from his glass. He was a huge lightweight, and he wanted to avoid getting drunk. What surprised him the most was that Anakin was doing the same. Obi-Wan had never seen him drink in such a controlled manner. After taking a few sips from his glass, Anakin returned to his earlier place on Obi-Wan's shoulder, no longer looking him in the eye.

"So, I broke up with her," Anakin continued. "and she went crazy. I don't say that lightly or as a joke. She tried to throw a knife at me, she started hitting me and scratching my face to hurt me. My stepfather, a one-legged man in a wheelchair, tried to pull her off me, and she broke his nose. He laughs about it now, but in that moment, it wasn't funny, I thought she was going to seriously hurt one of us, or herself.

"You have to understand, I grew up without a father, my mother was in debt and we were very poor until my stepfather came along. If there was even a tiny chance that a child was going to suffer like that because of _me_ , I didn't want to take it. But she didn't see it that way. She thought that I would like the chance to do better with a child of my own, so she decided that we wanted to have children, even if she didn't ask for my opinion. When I broke up with her, she got super violent and made a scene, but she started telling everyone we knew that I was the crazy one, that I wanted to hurt her. All of our mutual friends stopped talking to me. A couple days later she attempted suicide and left a note saying that because of me she had lost the will to live. I tried to take her words with a grain of salt, told myself that once she got help, she wouldn't blame me, and I tried to move on. I was still recovering from my accident. My face was already fine, but I needed PT for my arm, and I tried focusing my energy on that.

"But then the strangest thing happened. You'll probably find it weird, but sometimes I have these dreams, and they come true. At first, they were stupid things, like a certain traffic light malfunctioning or running into someone at the movies, but suddenly they were about my mother dying."

"I understand." Obi-Wan reassured him. "Weird coincidences have happened to me too."

"Like knowing the future?" Anakin asked, curious.

"Like looking a person in the eye and knowing if they're about to do something bad." He knew a lot of people would have thought him crazy, but he knew Anakin would understand, given what he had just said.

"Well, something like that happened. I dreamt that she was going to be caught in the middle of a bank robbery and one of the criminals shot her. I dreamt the same thing over and over, so one day, when she told me she had to go to the bank, I told her about the dreams, describing the bank and she went to a completely different one. Later that day the robbery was all over the news, and there had been multiple casualties, including her. In the end, it turned out that my warning didn't matter. The dream came true anyway." Anakin finished his story, taking another sip from his glass, which was still half-full.

"I'm sorry." Obi-Wan stated simply. He didn't know what else to say. Suddenly, he felt useless and selfish. He had always been proud of that time he had been able to leave a supermarket minutes before it became a hostage situation, but saving himself didn't seem like that much of an achievement after learning that Anakin hadn't been able to save his mom.

Anakin finally spoke after a long pause in which he collected himself and wiped his face clean of tears.

"Nobody believes me. About the dreams, I mean." He explained.

"I believe you. I may not have dreams, but I can _feel_ people. It's hard to explain." Obi-Wan knew he was avoiding the topic of Anakin's family, but it was easier to talk about the dreams and premonitions. He knew it was strange, he had spent most of his life thinking he was delusional. Having those abilities in common with someone made him feel a lot better, actually. Maybe they were both delusional.

"I'm glad you believe me, because I've had dreams about you too." Anakin suddenly looked away.

"About me dying?" Obi-Wan asked, surprised. He was not suprestitious, but he didn't doubt Anakin, not one bit. He did not intend to die soon, thank you very much.

"No, about normal things. For example, last night I dreamt that we went grocery shopping together, and you caught me when I slipped on a wet floor." Anakin let out a soft laugh. "I can bet you _anything_ that will actually happen tomorrow."

"What else have you dreamt?" Obi-Wan asked, smiling a little bit.

"Just random things, nothing important so far. You know? I have only ever told this story to two people, and the other person thought I was crazy."

"I do think you are crazy," Obi-Wan started saying good-naturedly, and Anakin's face became sad when he heard the words. "but because you insist on riding that _thing_ and you do everything last minute. Also, you're positively the most uncivilized person I know." Obi-Wan reassured him, smiling when he felt Anakin's relief.

"Hey, we can still finish this season, I'll try my best not to cry." Anakin suddenly changed the topic. Obi-Wan pressed play again.

"If you want to cry, you know where to find me." Anakin straightened up, as if suddenly remembering something.

"Is it weird if I always know where to find you? Like, I always know where you are, even without asking?."

"That would not be the weirdest thing to happen to me." Obi-Wan answered, as Anakin made himself comfortable on his shoulder one more time.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so continuing the first note:  
> First of all, let me say that I was DYING to use the "how embarassing" line lol. It is one of my favorite scenes in AOTC and it cracks me up every time.  
> Second, like I was saying, the topic of religion will only be dealt with superficially. I like to use parallels between canon and this AU that I created, so -in a nutshell- the fact that these priests (who are the members of the Jedi Council lol) are very worried about making money from weddings and events is parallel with how they were more worried with the war than being peacekeepers, forgetting the true essence of the Jedi. 
> 
> Anyways, with that out of the way, I hope you enjoy this chapter!!


	6. The Seer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin has two dreams. One of them involves the past. The other one involved the future and it comes true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. I just wanted to apologize for taking SO LONG to update. I work at a bakery and Valentine's Day was CRAZY. I have been working a lot of overtime and we are barely just recovering from being absolutely sold out lol.  
> I have one more chapter ready to post, but after that I will be updating as I write...  
> I apologize for any typos. I proof-read all of my chapters several times but sometimes they slip through the cracks haha

_"Do you have to leave so soon?" Obi-Wan asked, staring at the barely-illuminated silhouette of a now fully clothed Satine, who was struggling to put on her high heels in the dark._

_"I have to get up very early tomorrow, I have a meeting." She explained coldly, not bothering to look at Obi-Wan, naked and safe from the cold underneath the bed covers. His hair was short, a lot shorter than he liked to wear nowadays, and his beard was gone, reduced to a five o'clock shadow._

_"You could sleep here and go to your meeting in the morning." He countered while she pulled her blonde hair up without even looking in a mirror._

_"I left my laptop at home, I need it." Obi-Wan sighed in resignation. It was a horrible excuse, and he knew he was getting nowhere._

_"It's_ snowing _outside, Satine."_

_"I have a car waiting for me right in front of the building." She said as she put on a large jacket that made her look like a teddy bear in high heels. She approached the bed and bent over to kiss Obi-Wan goodbye. "I'll come by around the same time tomorrow?"_

_"Yeah, just call me if you won't." He pleaded with her, but he already knew he was not going to see her again for at least three days. He stared at her disappearing figure until she closed the bedroom door behind her._

Obi-Wan was suddenly jerked awake when he felt movement. He opened his eyes, slowly realizing that he was not on the comfort of his bed and, much to his dismay, he wasn't alone.

He was still on the living room couch. The TV was on, but it had gone into sleeping mode, as it was programmed to do after receiving no clicks for a couple of hours. He had probably fallen asleep on the couch without noticing, because he was in a very uncomfortable half-seated position.

The most shocking thing about the whole scene was that Anakin had apparently fallen asleep too, and he was pressed to Obi-Wan's side, tightly clutching the blanket that covered both of them the way one might hug a pillow or a stuffed animal. He was fast asleep, moving his legs to adjust his position, probably to unconsciously keep himself from falling off the couch. Obi-Wan realized that was probably the movement that had woken him up.

Pressing a button on the remote, he brought the TV back to life to look at the clock. It was a little bit past four a.m. Not late enough to wake up yet. It was probably best to wake Anakin up so that both of them could sleep comfortably on their beds. Obi-Wan's neck was starting to hurt and he craved the comfort of wearing pajamas instead of that day's pair of jeans.

While raising his arm to shake Anakin awake, he silently hoped that his roommate wouldn't make the situation more embarrassing that it already was. Knowing his friend, though, Obi-Wan already knew that he was setting himself up for weeks of endless teasing. Falling asleep together was definitely teasing material. Anakin was just never able to let things go. It was a very endearing quality, especially when Anakin was dead-set on finishing some home repair or a difficult task at work. It could be an equally annoying quality when Anakin held on to something with the sole purpose of making fun of Obi-Wan.

 _I hope I don't regret this_ , he thought.

"Anakin?" He said in a soft voice, gently shaking his shoulder. The other man didn't seem to notice, so Obi-Wan decided to speak a little louder. "Anakin, wake up." He shook him again, and this time his eyes opened in panic. "Sorry. It's me, you fell asleep." Obi-Wan tried to calm him down.

"Oh. What time is it?" Anakin's shoulders relaxed and he dropped his weight back on the couch.

"Four, you should probably go to bed." Obi-Wan answered, yawning. He was tired. He didn't feel well-rested after sleeping in an uncomfortable position.

"Okay. Sorry if I drooled on you." Anakin said as he stretched his arms over his head.

"You didn't." Obi-Wan replied, grateful that Anakin seemed to be too sleepy to make jokes. "Remember to get up before nine." He reminded him. They had agreed to visit a few different stores to take advantage of Anakin's day off.

"Obi?" Anakin said in a voice so low that it was almost a whisper. Obi-Wan turned his head instantly at the use of that nickname, which had been previously used only by Qui-Gon. _Dear Obi,_ had always been the opening line of his text messages.

"Yes?" He answered with hesitation. He didn't know whether he should ask Anakin not to call him that or just let it slide. He decided to go with the latter option for the time being.

"Nice hair." Anakin laughed, and Obi-Wan instinctively brought his hand to his head. His hair felt disheveled, and it was probably sticking up in multiple places. He figured it would be time to get a haircut soon, it was already getting too long for his liking.

Remembering his dream, he couldn't help but compare himself to the way he had looked back then. He rather liked how he looked now. Sure, being a couple of years older didn't do him any favors, but he wore his hair and his beard the way he liked instead of the way Satine had told him to. She had always been pretty insistent on Obi-Wan wearing the designer clothes she chose for him, staying clean-shaved and keeping his hair short. Obi-Wan hadn't thought much about it back then, it was not like he cared about fashion and hair would always grow back. He had been happy to do whatever Satine asked of him. After all, she put a lot of effort into her appearance whenever they saw each other, and he figured it was only fair for him to do the same. Thinking about it now only made him feel like he had been a life-sized Ken Doll that she enjoyed playing with.

"Shut up." He muttered in an embarrassed tone, returning to the present after a momentary trip down memory lane. He turned around, wanting to reach his bedroom door as fast as possible. He needed to sleep, but most of all, he wished to escape his embarassment at Anakin's childish comments.

"Don't go." He heard Anakin's voice say behind him, no longer laughing. "Can I ask you something?"

"It's four in the morning. Can't you wait until tomorrow?"

"Who's Satine?" Anakin asked, his voice full of curiosity.

The question hit Obi-Wan in the face like a bucket of cold water being thrown at him. It was strange enough that he had been thinking so much about her lately, the fact that he had just dreamed about her was stranger still. But he had never mentioned her to Anakin. Not even once, not even in passing. How in hell did he know her name?

_"What?"_

"I had a dream, and it was about you and a woman named Satine." Anakin explained. "It didn't make sense, and I couldn't see anything. It was dark. I could hear the two of you arguing. It was something about snow and a laptop, I think."

"No one." He said, replying to Anakin's original question. He walked to his bedroom as fast as he could without running and without looking back, locking the door behind him.

When he finally reached his bed, he let himself fall backwards, his heart beating rapidly. How on earth was it possible for Anakin to have the same dream as him, and apparently, at the same time? And it wasn't something simple enough to be a coincidence. No, it was a memory. _His_ memory. It wasn't one of the stories from work he frequently told Anakin about. It wasn't an event from their daily lives in the apartment. It was a very intimate, bittersweet memory of him and his _ex-girlfriend_ , for lack of a better term to describe Satine.

When he awoke hours later, Obi-Wan didn't remember falling asleep. He had fallen asleep on top of the covers and the bed was still made, somewhat. He slowly got up and walked towards his dresser, grabbing a random shirt and a pair of workout shorts.

Saturdays were supposed to be his days off, to take a break from work and even from running. But after the events that transpired just a few hours before, he was feeling restless. He desperately needed the distraction that running provided.

He was relieved when he came out of his room to an empty living room and kitchen. Anakin was probably still asleep. He grabbed his keys and his phone and stepped out into the hallway, determined to let the adrenaline of exercise wash away his troubling thoughts.

Upon return, the apartment was still seemingly empty, but all of the lights had been turned on, and he could hear the faint noise of the coffee maker. He quickly locked himself inside his room and stepped into the bathroom for a quick shower.

When he came out of his room, fully dressed and his hair still wet, Anakin was in the kitchen, also looking like he had just showered. He was doing something with fruit and the blender, which was odd, because Anakin had never attempted to make smoothies or any kind of juice before. His kitchen skills were mediocre at best, and Anakin was more of a pancakes-for-breakfast kind of guy.

Obi-Wan sat down at his usual place on the table. He wasn't sure he wanted to continue last night's conversation, so he figured it was best not to say anything. Anakin wasn't pestering him with questions, either, so he hoped that meant his friend had decided to drop the subject of Satine. It was rather unusual for Anakin to drop things that easily, but Obi-Wan wasn't going to complain about it. He took Anakin's silence on the subject as a peace offering.

They ate breakfast mostly in silence, only talking about Anakin's newfound talent: fruit smoothies. They also discussed their plans for the day. Obi-Wan did the grocery shopping every Saturday but, given the fact that Anakin was coming along this time, they decided to go to the mall to look at a couple different things they wanted to buy for the house. Anakin's coffee maker was so old it was practically useless, and they had discussed the possibility of splitting up the cost of a bigger TV. They also needed to drop by the hardware store so that Anakin could grab whatever he needed to fix a leak underneath the kitchen sink.

As the morning went by, Obi-Wan slowly forgot about his uneasiness. He wasn't mad at Anakin, not really, but the whole situation last night had weirded him out, to say the least. First, he had woken up with Anakin sleeping besides him. His feelings for Anakin were already confusing without them sleeping side by side like lovers. Then, as if the dream about Satine hadn't been unnerving enough, Anakin just _happened_ to share that same dream. If he added those things to the fact that Anakin seemed really eager to touch and hug him at every possible opportunity, it became too much. Anakin didn't even seem to care about the fact that they were in public. It was one thing to act like that inside their apartment, where they were alone, but it was totally different for Anakin to lean into his personal space and whisper things in his ear and re-arrange his hair when they were in the middle of a shopping mall full of people. People who stared at them. Some of them looked disgusted, but some people actually looked at them as if they were cute. Obi-Wan even heard a group of college-aged girls _awww_ in their direction. Did Anakin _want_ all those strangers to think that they were together? Did he do it to make Obi-Wan uncomfortable, just so that he could have something to laugh about later? Yup, confused didn't even begin to cut it.

_Really funny, God. Stop messing with my life already._

Their shopping trip went well, all things considered. They were able to find everything that they needed, and they had even stepped inside a barbershop at the mall to get haircuts. Obi-Wan decided to keep his hair as long as it was, just asking the barber to clean it up a bit. Anakin, on the other hand, had his hair trimmed to his jawline. Obi-Wan had thought that shoulder-length hair looked good on him, but this new style suited him better. It made his curls look more defined and the bones in his face look sharper. After that, they even went through with their plan of getting a new TV, deciding that the old one would go into Anakin's bedroom, since he often stayed up late after Obi-Wan had gone to sleep.

After a quick trip to drop all of their purchases at the apartment, they went to the grocery store.

About halfway through their shopping, Anakin extended his arm to reach for a ketchup bottle at the very top of a shelf, standing on the tips of his toes. He was so concentrated on the task at hand that he failed to notice the "Wet Floor" sign besides him. He suddenly lost his balance and slipped. Obi-Wan, always proud of his quick reflexes, quickly stepped forward and grabbed Anakin before he hit the ground. He was suddenly hit with a strange sense of Deja vú, and his skin suddenly felt cold when he understood the familiarity of the scene.

It was Anakin's dream. The one he had told Obi-Wan about less than a day ago. By now, Obi-Wan already knew better than to question his premonitions. They had often helped him out during difficult situations and they were an essential part of his decision-making process. Apparently, Anakin seemed to have the same abilities, to some extent, even if they manifested in a different way.

A religious man, Obi-Wan had been taught since childhood that he was never to question God's will. He had always attributed his strange abilities to either his imagination or a gift from God, even if Obi-Wan didn't think it was possible for God himself to be interested in a man as… _unremarkable_ as him. And what about Anakin? Was it possible that the dream they shared was somehow brought on by those abilities?

"Thanks. Too bad I didn't bet anything on this happening, I could have ripped you off" Anakin said, a laugh being his only reaction at the situation.

Obi-Wan needed to distract himself, badly. He knew that if he kept thinking about their shared dream, he would eventually go crazy. Then he remembered that there was something he had been meaning to ask Anakin for the past few days. He decided it was a fairly safe topic, and it was exciting enough to distract Anakin from their premonitions and dreams. Obi-Wan knew he could be like a cat: dangle a string in front of him and he could walk past chaos without even paying attention.

"I know it's your birthday this week. Do you have any plans?" He asked his friend, who was being very careful with his footing since the incident a few minutes ago, but displayed no other signs of uneasiness.

"How do you know it's my birthday?" Anakin asked in a suspicious tone.

"I saw it on your ID when you first moved in." It wasn't technically a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth, either. Sure, Obi-Wan had seen his ID when he added Anakin's name to the apartment lease, but he hadn't paid attention to his birthday back then. It wasn't until Anakin had gone away and Obi-Wan had organized his office at the shop that he had seen his date of birth on a document. Obi-Wan had written it down on his phone calendar to make sure he didn't forget it. He liked birthdays. Birthday parties were the only sort of parties he enjoyed, and he had even entertained the idea of throwing a surprise party for Anakin. He hadn't counted on the fact that there wouldn't be many people to invite. He figured he could ask Quinlan and his girlfriend to fly from L.A. She was Anakin's age, after all, and he vaguely remembered Quin e-mailing him a picture of the blue-haired woman riding a motorcycle. It would probably be fun for the four of them to get together, as Anakin and Aayla seemed to have some things in common. He could also invite Kit, who grew up with him and Quin. He lived in the city and he was the lead singer in some reggae band.

Obi-Wan didn't know much about fun, but enlisting the help of his childhood friends didn't seem like such a bad idea. That was, until he remembered that inviting Quin to someone's birthday meant that the entire group would get borderline-comatose drunk, lose all their money gambling in Atlantic City, board a ship to some foreign country they didn't have visas for and getting married -either to strangers or to one another- in international waters. Not necessarily in that order.

"Well, I was thinking we could do whatever you wanted, you know the city better than I do. It would be nice to go out for a change." Anakin finally replied. His vague idea sounded so much better than Obi-Wan's. As always, he had gone overboard. Obi-Wan was just surprised to hear Anakin had assumed that he was talking about plans _together_. He knew there was a possibility that Anakin didn't want to spend his birtday with _him,_ and he couldn't deny it was a pleasant surprise. It felt nice to be taken into account.

"I mean, do you have any plans with friends or something?" He clarified.

"I don't, I just thought I'd spend the day with you, but I can go somewhere if you want the house to yourself or whatever. Just leave a sock on the door or something, if you don't want me coming in." Anakin's voice sounded positively deflated. The remark was probably meant to be funny, but Anakin's voice betrayed his thoughts. Obi-Wan quickly glanced at his face, and he noticed Anakin was just staring at the floor, scowling. He had not meant to upset him, not at all. He just wanted to make sure he was not interfering with Anakin's plans. He didn't want to get carried away and make plans if Anakin was not going to be available.

"I didn't mean it like that." He apologized sincerely. "I just didn't want to get in the way if you had other plans, that's all."

"I am sure by now you have noticed that you're my only friend." Anakin's sad voice was gone, replaced by his usual teasing tone. "But you'll have to convince me to spend my _precious_ time with you. I am the birthday boy, after all."

"It's not your birthday yet."

"No, but I am already accepting birthday presents. You'll need to give me a lot of those if you want the privilege of my company. Like this." He pointed at a box of expensive chocolate bars that were always kept near the register. They were meant for impulse buyers like Anakin.

"Shut up." Obi-Wan rolled his eyes, but he picked up a couple of chocolate bars nonetheless. He was secretly pleased. Anakin was still feigning indignation, but he was smiling.

"This is going to be the best birthday ever!" He said as he lazily leaned against a shelf, while Obi-Wan scanned and bagged all of their items.

"Has anyone ever told you you're annoying?"

"I may be annoying, but you would die without me." Anakin hugged Obi-Wan from behind, and he almost jumped at the surprise contact. He quickly glanced around them, but no one seemed to be paying attention to them.

"I am sure you will be the death of me." Obi-Wan replied, trying to keep a neutral tone. He tried to pretend he wasn't super embarrassed at the thought of Anakin hugging him like that in a public place. "Now get off me, I'm trying to scan your stupid soap."

Anakin stepped back, but there was still a huge smile on his face.

He kept on smiling throughout the rest of the day.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed and I will do my best to post the next chapter soon!  
> Love, RVxx


	7. The Liar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan remembers the events of the day and tries to process his mixed feelings about his roommate, while Anakin struggles with nightmares and needs someone to comfort him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiiii~  
> Sorry for the wait, as always... this is the last pre-written chapter that I have for this story, so from now on, I will update the story both in here and FF.net at the same time.   
> This is the longest chapter yet, and it was highly anticipated by me lol. I started writing this story with this chapter in mind, and let me just say that this is where the story starts to get interesting. I am going to include a rudimentary event timeline at the end of the chapter, in case you're interested.

Obi-Wan stared at this bedroom ceiling.

It had been almost a week since he'd had a good night's sleep. He hadn't slept through the night since the day Anakin had told him about his dreams and the strange things that had happened to him throughout his life. It was not completely unlike his own situation.

Sleep was definitely evading him. He had been too preoccupied by many things, which led him to a struggle with his own dreams. They weren't prophetic dreams –just plain old nightmares.

Every time he closed his eyes, he was unable to silence the voices in his head. Those little voices diligently reminded him that he could not go to sleep. He had way too many things to figure out. During the past few weeks, he had grown increasingly tired of his job. He had felt burnt out before, but never to the extent of considering quitting.

It was not just the fact that he was swimming in work and they didn't hire any extra help. It was not just the fact that he had been doing the same job for almost fifteen years without any hope of growing; it was one of those jobs in which you stayed out of the goodness of your heart more than out of desire to build a career. It was not just the fact that the charity events that motivated him so much were becoming scarcer every day. No, it was not just that.

He was also growing tired about the moral ambiguity that came hand in hand with working for a religious organization. With each passing day, Obi-Wan saw more similarities between religion and politics. It was not that he hadn't noticed those things before. He'd always had some reservations about religious institutions and their members. After all, he hadn't joined the seminary like most of the other teenage boys from his group home did. Even if it was a little bit shameful to admit, he had just been happy turning a blind eye to those things –sort of-, as long as he saw those religious organizations using their power for the greater good.

Those similarities between religion and politics had never bothered him in his day-to-day before, at least not really, not in a significant way. But now he was so tired of it that he was revisiting his previous idea of taking a long vacation. He figured he could ask Anakin if he wanted to go with him whenever he took that vacation. The idea of travelling to some beach paradise accompanied was way more appealing than going alone. _Especially if Anakin is the one accompanying me,_ he thought.

And that was his other problem.

When Obi-Wan and Anakin had first met, he had considered Anakin strange, eccentric even. The man had a no-nonsense quality that could only be the product of youth or not giving a damn about the rest of the world. Back then, he had thought that Anakin spoke with no filter, with no regard for other people's reactions or opinions. But he had been wrong.

The more he got to know Anakin, the more he realized the no-nonsense persona was just a front. There was a certain vulnerability to him that was not easy to perceive at first sight, but once he had learned some things about his past and present life, Obi-Wan could see it clearly. Instead of that straightforward tough guy, he now saw a sentimental person, made purely of flesh and blood, who often hid behind sarcasm and carefully crafted statements to hide his true feelings. He was not unlike Obi-Wan at all.

After figuring that out, Obi-Wan couldn't help but take a keen interest in him. He had never been so interested in a person in his entire life.

Now, every single time he and Anakin interacted, Anakin made sure to touch him or be close to him in any possible way. At first, he had seen it as a minor nuisance; he figured Anakin did it only to get a rise out of him to use as mocking material. Like with many other things, Obi-Wan later realized that wasn't the case, because Anakin just happened to be a touch-inclined person in general.

He didn't exactly have many close friends, spending most of his own time with Obi-Wan himself, but he had seen him interact with other people: store employees, regular customers from his shop, casual acquaintances they had run into in the streets. Anakin appeared to have the same chatty and flirty demeanor with all of them. After all, he remembered Anakin behaving the same way when they had first met.

There were some things that Anakin only did around Obi-Wan, as well. As far as he could tell, he was the only person that Anakin hugged frequently and the only person that Anakin had talked to about his dreams and his past. He attributed that to the fact that they spent the most time together, but it wasn't a very comforting thought. After all, that only meant that, in level of importance, he was only a little bit above the cashier at the convenience store.

His life had never felt more dire and bleak as it did when he thought about his own triviality.

What Anakin didn't realize was that those touches and that flirty demeanor had an effect on Obi-Wan, and it wasn't necessarily anger. At first it had been, he had felt angry and embarrassed at such displays of improper behavior. He still was, but now he had come to crave those touches like the oxygen in his lungs. He was suddenly afraid that if at any moment Anakin was not there –like when he had gone away to attend his brother's wedding- his body would stop functioning in his absence. He no longer felt comfortable in any situation that didn't include Anakin. The few times that Anakin had to stay at work until very late, Obi-Wan hadn't been able to fall asleep until Anakin got home.

Ironically, he wasn't able to sleep when Anakin _was_ home, either.

The problem was, Anakin didn't mean anything by his actions. He was just being himself. He didn't do those things because he felt a certain way towards Obi-Wan, it was probably just a habit to which Obi-Wan was just the newest recipient. He didn't know much about Anakin's previous roommate, but he was willing to bet a week's paycheck that her shoulder had also served as Anakin's pillow when they lived together. Countless times, he thought about pushing him away, equally fueled by embarrassment and self-preservation. He just couldn't bring himself to do it.

He sighed, as he remembered the events of that day.

_He and Anakin were walking down an unfamiliar street. Since it was Anakin's birthday, he had decided they were going to eat out. For the past week, since their trip to the mall, he and Anakin had been doing everything together, even simple trips to the convenience store down the block. Obi-Wan didn't remember the last time he had gone out of his apartment so much. He was suddenly worried about his savings account taking a hit from all of the things they had bought recently: their new TV, a coffee table for the living room, eating out multiple times that week, kitchen gadgets that they didn't really need but they were a perfect excuse for Anakin to take Obi-Wan to_ Bed, Bath & Beyond _for the first time in his life._

_He had also noticed that he was starting to spend a lot of money in gas. It was not really a surprise, because having a car in the city was really expensive, but he had never struggled with that before. He used his old car only for work and the occasional errand, always trying to stay roughly in the same neighborhood or at least the same part of the city. Most people didn't even bother with a car, using cabs or public transportation. Other people, like Anakin, opted for a less expensive form of transportation, like a motorcycle or one of those new tiny, electric cars. Because of that, he had proposed that they walk to the restaurant, using the fact that Anakin needed to exercise more as an excuse._

_They walked several blocks towards the restaurant of his choice, which turned out to be a little place -so small it was hard to tell it was actually a restaurant or even a diner. The place looked old, overall. There were only two tables set up outside, and Obi-Wan suspected that the building was not just a kitchen, but it also probably doubled as the owner's house. The sign in the front was old and withered, but not faded enough for him to miss the fact that there was a spelling mistake on it._

_He forgot all about those details after tasting the food. He was not the biggest fan of Tex-Mex food because it involved a lot of beef. Obi-Wan was more of a chicken and fish kind of guy. Anakin had insisted on ordering for him, and when their food arrived, he was presented with a plate full of some type of taco. It was the most delicious beef dish he had ever tried. Anakin laughed at his enthusiasm more than once throughout the meal. He left the place in an incredibly good mood._

_"What kind of cake do you want?" He asked Anakin when he noticed they were walking past a bakery. It was a small, humble-looking place. It didn't look like one of those places where you had to call days in advance to get a cake._

_"I don't think we could eat a whole cake by ourselves." Anakin replied, stopping in front of the bakery. "I have seen you wolf down entire boxes of cookies, but I don't think even you could eat a cake that is meant for like ten people." He teased._

_"Like you don't wolf things down yourself." He muttered, annoyed. It was always exasperating when Anakin teased him about his love of junk food, considering the fact that Anakin couldn't even eat a tiny piece of kale or broccoli without gagging._

_"Well, I was thinking we could get like, a box of pastries or something and share them over coffee. Or tea, in your case." Obi-Wan quite liked that proposition. There was just something about an invitation for coffee that made him feel elegant, like he had all the time in the world. He liked the idea of sipping at a random beverage and gossiping with your friends or family. It was a pleasure of life that he didn't indulge in too often. Friends and family were a bit scarce nowadays._

_"Do you think they sell that here?" Obi-Wan asked, peeking through the bakery window. He saw a lot of cakes on display, but there was also a smaller display full of cookies near the cash register._

_"You go get the coffee, I'll get the sugar. There's a coffee shop down the street, if I'm not mistaken." Anakin pointed in the general direction of the coffee shop. He couldn't see any signs, but Obi-Wan figured he could walk for a block or two._

_"Can you get me some brownies, if they happen to sell them?" He requested. Brownies were his favorite dessert. Anakin nodded with a smile and squeezed Obi-Wan's shoulder before walking inside the bakery._

_Obi-Wan had walked for a grand total of three minutes when he stumbled upon the coffee shop Anakin had mentioned. It was one of those hipster places where they wrote your name on the cup, but all of the ingredients were organic and there were a lot of references to it being a family-owned business. After looking at the menu, he ordered tea for himself and a black coffee for Anakin, which was what he usually drank._

_He couldn't help but notice that the girl behind the counter kept flirting with him, leaning forward while she wrote down his order so that he could look at a very low neckline that displayed her cleavage. Her lips were painted bright red, and she constantly pushed her bottom lip out, feigning concentration as she worked the cash register. When she asked for his name so that she could write it down on his cup, he saw her draw a little heart over the i._

_She was conventionally attractive, Obi-Wan guessed. Her blonde hair was shiny, a very similar shade to Satine's, if he recalled correctly. He couldn't have been less interested in her. When he gave her Anakin's name for his cup, he noticed there was no heart in lieu of a dot._

_He figured she did that flirting scene with all of her customers in order to get good tips. He slipped a five-dollar bill into the tip jar. It was about as much as the price of one of the beverages, so he figured that was a good tip. Then she handed him the paper cups with a smile on her face, waving cheerfully and telling him to have a nice day. When he repositioned the cups in his hand for a better grip, he noticed that the cup with his name on it also had a phone number written down on it. Perhaps it had not been a tactic to get more tips, after all. He just ignored the number and walked back to the bakery._

_Anakin was already outside waiting for him, carrying a cardboard box that was big enough to fit a cake on one hand and a paper bag on the other._

_"Did you get brownies?" He asked eagerly. He handed Anakin his coffee cup and he grabbed the paper bag with his free hand. He was pleased to see that it was indeed full of brownies._

_"Yes, also some cookies and fruit tartlets. I think you'll like those." Anakin paused. "What's that?" He asked, looking at Obi-Wan's paper cup. The expression on his face went from surprised to unreadable._

_"Nothing." He mumbled under his breath. He could not have cared less about the coffee shop girl. He hadn't even considered her pretty, or even nice for that matter. When he had looked at her, he had a feeling that she was one of those people who cared too much about appearances and always tried too hard. Those were not exactly qualities he liked._

_Anakin had been silent the entire walk back to the apartment. When they set their purchases on the table, he started looking a little bit more relaxed. Obi-Wan turned on their new TV, which was huge. He figured it was only fitting that Anakin chose their entertainment for the evening, being his birthday and all, so he focused on getting some plates for dessert instead. He had bought some candles so that Anakin could blow on them, but he hadn't counted on the fact that they would buy pastries instead of an actual cake. Maybe he could put a single candle on a tartlet, the way people did with cupcakes._

_While he set that up, Anakin selected some Irish TV show about a serial killer. He was waiting for Obi-Wan on the couch, holding up both their cups. He was still staring at the girl's phone number and the heart above Obi-Wan's name. He was frowning, but his expression quickly changed into a smile when he saw Obi-Wan carrying his birthday pastry. Obi-Wan was worried he was going a little overboard with the candle. It was only the two of them, after all; it wasn't like there were a lot of people there to sing him happy birthday. But he loved birthdays, and he wasn't going to let Anakin's go unnoticed._

_"Make a wish" Obi-Wan said when he approached him with his birthday tartlet. The coffee cup and the blonde girl's number were long forgotten._

_"Done. But I won't tell you." Anakin replied after closing his eyes and blowing out the candle._

_"Take a bite, or I'll push you." Obi-Wan said, his voice full of amusement. It was something the other kids used to say whenever birthdays were being celebrated at the children's home. Quinlan had actually pushed him into a cake once, and it hadn't been a pleasant experience, but it hadn't been terrible, either._

_Anakin bit into his tartlet. He closed his eyes in pleasure and muttered something while his mouth was still full. It sounded a lot like "It's really good", so Obi-Wan guessed that was what he had said. He finished chewing and got up towards the kitchen, no doubt looking for another tartlet. He returned with a plate filled with various confections._

_"Try this." He said, feeding the tartlet directly to Obi-Wan, who was grateful for the distraction of having his mouth suddenly stuffed full. He focused all of his energy on chewing. Otherwise, his face might have turned red._

_When Obi-Wan was done with his tartlet, which had been entirely fed to him by Anakin, berry by berry, he pressed play. Anakin's head assumed its regular position on top of his shoulder._

_"Thank you. For everything." He said in a quiet voice, very close to Obi-Wan's neck. Obi-Wan just nodded. It was his birthday, he wouldn't have done anything less._

_As they watched some episodes of the show Anakin had selected, he continued feeding pastries directly into Obi-Wan's mouth, including the extremely-coveted brownies. Obi-Wan tried to just go with it, remembering that Anakin could be inherently inappropriate without meaning anything by it. He tried very hard to keep a straight face when Anakin put his fingers in Obi-Wan's mouth so that he could lick the leftover chocolate. He was convinced he failed spectacularly but, if he made some kind of pleasure face, Anakin either didn't notice or attributed it to the chocolate. Anakin's fingers were warm and they felt smooth on his tongue, the taste of sugar and chocolate making the experience inherently better._

Obi-Wan gave up trying to sleep, and his thoughts were not helping. He was not going to be able to get over his confusion regarding his feelings for Anakin while he thought about _that_ moment. It had been a little bit uncomfortable and maybe even inappropriate, but erotic nonetheless. Obi-Wan knew it had been so one-sided that it was bordering on weird -especially while watching a serial killer do his _thing_ -, but he could not deny that it had caused a reaction in his body. One more reason to be confused.

He got up from his bed and went to the kitchen for a glass of water. He needed to calm his thoughts, think about neutral things like wheat fields or the ocean or anything relaxing. It all went to hell when he saw the leftover sweets on the table. Anakin had bought enough cookies and pastries to last them three days, but Obi-Wan was determined not to touch a single one of them. He was sure he was never going to be able to look at any finger food the same way.

He briefly considered going out for a midnight run to clear his head when he heard noise coming from Anakin's bedroom.

He paused and stood still, listening for the noise again. Perhaps Anakin was also awake and he had dropped the remote or his phone? Perhaps he had been drinking alone, as usual? He figured that if both of them were awake, he could go talk to him. He could probably make up some excuse to ask Anakin to stop touching him so much and bring his problem to an end. That wouldn't be so hard, right?

He heard another fait noise coming from his bedroom, so he decided to try talking to him. He knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He was about to knock again when he was able to _feel_ Anakin from the other side of the door. He was afraid and desperate.

"Anakin?" He knocked one more time, but there was still no answer.

A couple seconds later, he heard him scream.

Obi-Wan went on autopilot, immediately forgetting about his predicament. Anakin was probably in pain. It was possible that he had been in the bathroom and slipped, breaking an arm or a leg. Maybe he was experiencing severe pain from appendicitis or some other sudden ailment. Either way, he needed help. Obi-Wan opened the door without hesitation, thanking God for the fact that it wasn't locked.

Anakin's room was dark, but he was able to see that he was actually laying down on his bed, shirtless and seemingly asleep. But something was very, very wrong. Anakin was sweating, moving his arms as if he was trying to shield his face from something. And he was muttering things under his breath, occasionally screaming. Obi-Wan didn't know what to do except wake him up.

"Anakin?" He said loudly while gently pushing his shoulders down, positioning his arms in a more natural position. "It's just a dream, wake up." He shook him, trying not to be too rough, but it wasn't working.

He did the only thing he could think of: he sat down next to Anakin on the bed and positioned his head on his own chest, the same way Anakin often did while they watched TV. He thought that maybe he would wake up more easily if he suddenly felt he had been moved into a seating position. Obi-Wan continued shaking his shoulder and saying his name until he actually woke up, eyes opened wide in terror.

Anakin let out another scream, but he stopped when he noticed Obi-Wan next to him. He let his weight fall into Obi-Wan once more, taking deep breaths to calm himself. One of Obi-Wan's hand was still on his shoulder, and with his other hand he grabbed a tissue from the night stand to wipe the sweat away from his face.

"Obi? Why are you on my bed? Does that mean I'm still dreaming?" Anakin asked after a few minutes had passed and he had somewhat calmed down.

Had Obi-Wan not been sick with worry, he would have laughed. Anakin had just woken up, his brain was still fuzzy with remnants of sleep. There was no way that he had meant his statement to sound _so suggestive_ , he was just trying to make sense of the situation while slowly waking up.

"You were having a nightmare." Obi-Wan explained, matter-of-factly. "You were screaming, I could hear you all the way to the kitchen."

"I'm sorry."

"Are you okay? Was it one of your dreams?" Obi-Wan asked with concern. It must have been a very bad dream for Anakin to scream while asleep. And he had been able to feel what he was feeling. Anakin's dream had been full of despair, and whatever he was dreaming of had scared him so much.

"No, just a regular dream. It was about a car accident." Anakin replied without looking at Obi-Wan.

While Anakin didn't really have a _tell_ to signal whether he was lying or not –as far as Obi-Wan knew-, looking away was a pretty good indication that he could be lying. Anakin tended to be headstrong and straightforward; he was an expert at hiding his true feelings. But now Obi-Wan knew him better, and Anakin's façade was pretty transparent to him. He knew that, when Anakin looked away while having a conversation, he was either lying, ashamed of something, or both. To the average person, the gesture might have come across as distracted and fidgety, but Obi-Wan already knew better. He didn't need his reading abilities –as he had begun to call them- to know when Anakin was hiding behind a lie.

Nonetheless, he let it go. Even if he was pretty convinced that Anakin was lying to him, he didn't want to push him too hard, knowing that Anakin would most likely discuss his feelings in due time. _And his dreams are none of your business_ , the voice in his head said, and Obi-Wan had to begrudgingly admit that it was right. Why would he need to know about Anakin's dreams, anyway?

He just stayed there, in silence. He knew Anakin wanted the company, and he hadn't even been close to sleeping before it all happened. It certainly would have been a lot more difficult to sleep now that he was hyper-alert, concerned for Anakin's well-being.

He absentmindedly stroked Anakin's hair. It was something that he only did when Anakin was upset or in need of comfort. It hadn't happened that often, but it was a lot more often than the times Obi-Wan had shared stories of his past or important details about his life. The grand total of times that had actually happened was an impressive _zero_.

"Why were you in the kitchen, anyway? Isn't it like one in the morning?" Anakin asked, interrupting his thoughts. He pulled away from Obi-Wan and glanced at his alarm clock to make a point. It was indeed past one in the morning. Just a few hours until Obi-Wan had to wake up, assuming that he even fell asleep.

"I couldn't sleep." He answered dismissively. Would Anakin be disgusted if he shared the fact that he couldn't sleep because he was thinking about him?

"Why?" Anakin asked, and Obi-Wan sighed, knowing that Anakin was not going to let it go until he got an answer. Even half-asleep, he was annoyingly stubborn.

"Just thinking about some problems at work." Obi-Wan replied, and it was not a complete lie. Stressing out about work was keeping him awake, even if it was only half of the reason behind his lack of sleep.

"Scoot." Anakin said, pushing him away, towards the center of the bed. Obi-Wan didn't even have time to argue before Anakin started explaining. "Right after high school, Ru worked as a masseuse. There are some techniques to help people sleep, some pressure points in the shoulders, supposedly. At least they worked on me. She helped me a lot, the first week or so after my accident. I was in so much pain that I wasn't sleeping well. I'd like to think I learned a thing or two about massages." He added, positioning himself behind Obi-Wan, who had adopted a seated position at the center of the bed.

"Don't break my neck." Obi-Wan cautioned in a feeble attempt at humor. He was beginning to regret not going back to his bedroom as soon as he had made sure that Anakin was fine. A neck massage was not at all what he thought would happen when he barged into Anakin's room. He had thought they'd be halfway to the emergency room by now. But Anakin was fine. He was safe and behind Obi-Wan, his breath so close to Obi-Wan's skin that it was both comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time.

Anakin put his hands on top of his shoulders and started applying pressure. Obi-Wan gasped at the unfamiliar sensation, but Anakin didn't say anything about it. His hands were strong and steady, but as far as Obi-Wan could tell, he was not doing anything special. Obi-Wan wasn't exactly someone who ever paid for massages, so he didn't really have any point of comparison. Anakin's actions were actually helping his muscles unclench a little bit, and he was certainly feeling a little bit less tense, but he was sure he was not going to fall asleep anytime soon. He didn't feel sleepy, he didn't even feel less awake.

Maybe that was due to the fact that he was in Anakin's bed, his neck and shoulders being touched nonstop by him and not due to the fact that Anakin's sister-in-law's massage techniques didn't work, but he was not falling asleep either way.

"What's stressing you out? You should talk about it." Anakin asked while still working his fingers over Obi-Wan's upper back.

Too late, Obi-Wan realized that the so-called massage had never been intended as something to help him sleep, but as something to get him as comfortable and relaxed as possible so that he would lower his guard and open up about his problems. He wanted to slap himself for even falling for it.

"Was that story even true?" He asked Anakin, not even bothering to feign annoyance. He was indeed too relaxed to care. Anakin's fingers momentarily stopped moving, no doubt in surprised at being caught in the middle of a lie.

"Not one bit." He replied smugly, moving his hands lower on Obi-Wan's back, applying pressure once more. "I talk about my problems all the time, it's only logical that I listen to yours in return." He supplied sincerely.

"Maybe tomorrow." He relented. As much as he was embarrassed about being fooled into talking, he could not ignore the fact that his work-related stress was eating at his insides. He needed to talk about it, and Anakin had offered, after all. It was a luxury that he was never afforded in the past. This was the first time in about fifteen years that he actually had someone who would listen. The feeling was foreign and unsettling, but maybe it was a little comforting, too.

Anakin didn't push the topic further, but he had insisted for Obi-Wan to stay and watch TV with him. They sat down at the top of the bed, their backs resting against the headrest and Anakin's head resting on Obi-Wan's shoulder, as usual. He figured it was as good a way of killing time as any other, given that none of them was going to sleep anytime soon.

As they continued watching the serial killer show from earlier, Obi-Wan couldn't help but remember the events of that afternoon. He felt a sudden flare of anger and resentment at Anakin for being able to hug him and touch him and manhandle him and just act without inhibitions or any regard for the fact that his actions had consequences. He never stopped to think about his actions making Obi-Wan uncomfortable or being misleading, he just did whatever he pleased, like a spoiled child.

His anger subsided when he spared a look at Anakin. His eyes were closed and he was frowning. His back and shoulders were relaxed, his weight against Obi-Wan's body, but his face looked tense. Obi-Wan realized that he was still shaken up about his nightmare, despite trying to create a distraction by focusing on Obi-Wan's life.

In that moment he understood that he would never be able to ask Anakin to stop, he would never be able to pull away, at least not without hurting Anakin's feelings. If Obi-Wan ever did such a thing, he would probably feel as if he was ending their friendship, or as if he no longer cared. Sometimes it was easy to forget that even though Anakin liked to present himself as tough, in reality he was extremely sensitive.

Back when Anakin had taken his trip to Arizona and Obi-Wan had taken care of his business, he had found multiple documents detailing the finances of the shop. Sure, he had been cleaning out the office merely as a nice gesture, but the administrator in him had been curious about the inner workings of that place. He knew snooping was wrong, but Anakin didn't have to know. He had been surprised to learn that the shop made a lot more money than he thought, and in that moment, he had dismissed that fact, thinking that maybe Anakin had a lot of expenses if he wasn't able to maintain an apartment with that kind of profit.

Over the four months that they had been living together, Anakin hadn't struggled to make rent even once. He had never batted an eye when pitching in for the groceries, or one of the many recent purchases. He didn't behave like someone who was struggling financially. Obi-Wan was suddenly hit in the face with the knowledge that Anakin hadn't relinquished his previous apartment over money troubles, as he had claimed. That had been a lie, told not to a friend but to a stranger he had just met. Money wasn't an issue. No, he had left because his former roommate had hurt his feelings by pushing him away, and he had wanted to get out of that place as soon as possible.

Obi-Wan had no doubt that, if he ever hurt Anakin's feelings like that, he would never be able to forgive himself. He was not a headstrong child; he was just in dire need of comfort. _Comfort that I can provide_ , Obi-Wan though with pride.

When he looked at Anakin once more, Obi-Wan was invaded with an overwhelming sense of calm. Maybe Anakin's feelings were now entangled with his own. He didn't think it impossible, after all, Anakin had reading abilities of his own, albeit a little bit different. He seemed to be comfortable, at ease, even; all traces of his previous fears now gone. In a split second, Obi-Wan decided that if talking about his life was what it took to make Anakin happy, he would do it.

"I have told you before that I am an orphan. But I've never told you what it was like for me, growing up..." He began.

Effortlessly, he provided Anakin with a summary of his childhood and teenage years. He told him how most boys in the group home joined the seminary sometime during their teenage years, but most girls just left, longing for motherhood and a family that would become forbidden if they joined the convent. He even briefly touched upon the subject of Quinlan abandoning him to become a priest, only to contact him a few years later after that didn't work out. He explained how he had his own reservations about joining the seminary, ultimately deciding to leave for college instead. He then recounted how he came to find his current job, and how he had managed to stay motivated throughout the years.

At some point during his story, he vaguely noticed Anakin slipping his hand into one of his own. He absently traced circles on it with one of his fingers, feeling some scars –from his accident, no doubt- that weren't visible to the eye, but they were evident to the touch. As promised, Anakin listened and provided silent comfort.

When Obi-Wan was done explaining, his eyes were heavy with sleep, exhaustion finally catching up to him. The TV had become nothing more than insignificant background noise, the show long forgotten. He kept talking about various things, trying to stay awake. He was only aware of Anakin's hand on his, and he could no longer ignore that he felt very, very tired.

"Let's go to sleep." Anakin whispered, gently repositioning them.

Obi-Wan felt Anakin's hand move away and he tried to protest, but he found himself uncapable of making a sound. His discomfort was appeased when he felt Anakin's head on his chest, now a familiar presence. He was vaguely aware that Anakin was still shirtless, and his skin provided the warmth that the bed covers didn't.

The last thought Obi-Wan had before finally falling asleep was that he had never let himself become attached to someone, until now. He had known physical attraction, even fascination at someone's personality, but he had never known attachment. He had never known that feeling where you need a person so much that, if they ever left or died, you would simply die of natural causes, ceasing to breathe in their absence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On FF.net, I posted a long autor's note regarding my thought process and some behind-the-scenes for this story. If that's something you would be interested in, please let me know and I can update this note...  
> Now, regarding the timeline for this story, I am not bothering with dates or months or anything like that, I will just use the day of the first events of the story as day 1. Also, as you will be able to see in the following timeline, the previous chapters take place over the course of a few months, but I am thinking that the following chapters should have more of a continuity to them, for example one day or one weekend per chapter.
> 
> Day 1- Obi-Wan notices his car is malfunctioning.  
> Day 2- Obi-Wan takes his car to the shop and meets Anakin.  
> Day 10 - Obi-Wan picks up his car and asks Anakin to be his roommate.  
> Day 11 - Anakin makes breakfast for them and their friendship begins.  
> Days 11-18 - Anakins moves all of his furniture, gets settled etc.  
> Day 33 - They watch Stranger Things together.  
> Day 68 - Anakin comes home drunk.  
> Days 74 - 81 - Anakin's trip to Arizona, his force-vision dream is on Day 80.  
> Day 110 - They watch HIMYM and talk.  
> Day 111 - They go to the mall and supermarket.  
> Day 119 - Anakin's birthday, current point of the story.
> 
> Oh, and by the way... in my mind, the coffee shop girl is Siri Tachi. I know the age doesn't coincide, as Siri is roughly Obi-Wan's age and the coffee shop girl is, like, college-aged, but I am going to ignore that little detail because I can lol


End file.
